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A MEMORIAL 



AMERICAN PATRIOTS 



WHO FELL AT THE 



BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, 

JUNE 17, 1775. 
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE DEDICATION 

OF THE 

MEMORIAL TABLETS 

ON WINTHROP SQUARE, CHARLESTOWN, 
JUNE 17, 1889, 

AND 

AN APPENDIX CONTAINING IT.LUSTRATIVE PAPERS. 

FOURTir ET>ITTOIV. 




BOSTON: 

print?:d by order of the city council. 



\v-. . Vyv/ < Va^ » 




in 



(■1448 



CITY OF BOSTON, 



In Common CouNcn,, June 20, 18S9. 
Ordered, That the Joint Special Committee on tlie Bunker-Hill Tablets be authorized 
and directed to have prepared and distributed a Memorial volume to contain the proceedings 
at the dedication, together with such accompanying documents as they deem appropriate; 
the edition to consist of twenty-five hundred copies, and the expense to be charged to the 
appropriation for Printing. 
Passed. 

Sent up for concurrence, June 24, 1889. 
Concurred in Board of Aldermen. 
Approved by the Mayor, June 26, 1889. 
A true copy. 

Attest : EDWIN U. CURTIS, 

City Clerh. 

In Common CouxcrL, Dec. 19, 1889. 
Ori^erc^?, That the Superintendent of Printing be directed to have printed and published 
an edition of two thousand (2,000) copies of the Bunker-Hill Tablets Memorial Volume, 
with any suitable additions or corrections, the expense to be charged to the Contingent 
Fund of the Common (Council; whereof twenty-five (25) copies shall be delivered to each 
member of the present Common Council. 
Passed in Common Council, Dec. 19, 1889. 
Approved by the Mayor, Dec. 24, 1889. 
A true copy. 

Attest: JOSEPH O'KAXE, 

Clerh of the Uommcm Council. 

In Common Council, Jan. 16, 1890. 
OrtZerei, That the Superintendent of Printing be directed to have printed and pnllli^hed 
an edition of 2,000 copies of the Bunker-Hill Tablets Memorial Volume, with any suitable 
additions or corrections, the expense to be charged to the Contingent Fund of the Common 
Council; and the City Messenger is directed to furnish 23 copies to each member of the 
Common Council. 

Passed in Common Council, Jan. 16, 1890. 
Approved by the Mayor, Jan. 18, 1890. 
A true copy. 

Attest: JOSEPH O'KANE, 

Clerh of the Common Council, 

In Common Council, Dec. 19, 1895. 
Ordered, That the City Registrar be hereby autliorizcd to jircpare and have printcil an 
extra edition of one thousand copies of the Memorial lo the American Patriots who fell at 
the Battle of Bunker Hill, with necessary additions, the said edition lo be distributed by the 
City Registrar; the expeu>e to be charged to the appropriation for Registry ncpartment. 

Passed. Sent up for concurrence. In Board of Aldcrincn, December 23, concurred. 
The foregoing order was presented to the .Mayor Dec. 21, 1895, and was not returned by 
him within ten days thereafter. ', . ; 

Attest: ■•• JOIIX T. PRIEST, 

Assistant City Clerh. 






CONTENTS. 



7 r^ 



Preface 

Action of the City Goveknment 
Dedication of the Bunker Hill Tablets 

Prayer by Rev. Philo W. Sjirague 

Ode by Dr. Thomas W. Parsons . 

Remarks by Mayor Thomas N. Hart . 

Oration by Hon. John R. Mui-phy 




Anntversaky Sermon by Rev. Edward j\I. Taylok 



41 



List of Appendices : — 

A. Sketch of the Battle ...... 

B. Americans killed at Bunker Hill .... 

C. English Opinion of Colonial Troops 

D. History of the Monument 

E. Webster Oration at Laying of Comer Stone, 1825 
Webster Oration on Completion of Monument, 1813 

F. Grandmother Stoiy of Bunker Hill Battle . 

G. Revolutionaiy Aimy Regulations .... 



73 

85 
139 
166 
197 
218 
245 
251 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 



View of Tablets, looking North Fadng Tiae. - 

^ View of Tablets, looking South 11 - 

L Trumbull's View of Cliarlestown 39 - 

■Plan of Action, drawn by Lieut. Page 73 ■<" 

"^ View of the Attack 81 ' 

Statue of Col. Prescott ' . 84 V 

Views of the Country round Boston, taken from Beacon Hill in 1775 . 88 — 

" View of Boston from Breed's Hill ........ 102 - 

Views of the Bronze Tablets erected by the City of Boston . 127-134 ? 

Boston and Vicinity in 1775 139 ■^ 

View of the Monument as designed, from the Certificates of 1834 . 166 " 

First stage of the Monument, 1830 ....... 174 f 

Second stage, 1837 176 ^ 

View of Monument as proposed, 1836 185 ' 

Whig Procession of 1840 186 

Interior section of Monument 196 / 

Plan of Foundation stones 217 j 

Greenough's design for base of Monument 244 )- 

Manual of English Foot-Guards 252-259 \ 

Continental Manual, by Steuben 262 



PEEFACE. 



It is a gratifying fact that in tlie six years following the first 
issue of this roll of patriots, so few errors or omissions have 
been discovered. The names of two officers and one private 
have been found to be entitled to places on the list, and the fate 
of a few of the prisoners captured by the British has been traced 
a little more distinctlj-. The evidence is hereto subjoined, or 
will be found on p. 123. 

The two ofiicers were Lieutenant Benjamin West of Salem, 
and Captain "William Meacham, of New Salem. The private was 
John Meads, enlisted from Ashby in Capt. Abishai Brown's 
company, Xixon's regiment. 

The Evidence. 

In 1889 the venerable Caleb Foote of Salem, then aged some 
eighty-six years, called attention to the case of his grand-uncle, 
Capt. Benjamin "\Vest, as given in Felt's Annals of Salem in 
1849 ; verified by family traditions heai'd by ^Ir. Foote in 1807 : 
and corroborated by contemporaneous records. The full text of 
a communication to the City Council of Boston will be found 
in City Document No. 51, of 1890. 

In our third edition, p. 87, the case of Lieut. "West was 
given, and his name was added on the tablet printed on p. 133. 
Afterwards the name was repeated in its proper place among the 
officers, on the tablet given on p. 136. The difficulty of amend- 
ing a bronze tablet made this the best course to adopt. 



6 PREFACE. 

In the case of Capt. William Meacham, the evidence "O'as most 
ample and of an ofScial nature. It is found at the State House 
in Boston after the publication of the first edition of this book. 
The entries are : 

"Massachusetts Archives, vol. 138, page 375. 

"December ye 15"" 1775 This may certify that I William 
Stacy & I William Smith & I Ben'" Haskall were well-knowing 
to the guns of Capt W" Meacham and that of John Ganson, the 
sd Capt were killed the sd John were wounded in the action on 
Bunkers hill ye 1 7 of June last we therefore have Prized the sd 
Capt. gun at £3 00^ 00" the Bayonet and Belt at £0 09= 08* and 
the sd Jno. gun at £2 14" 00* the sd capt. gun was a compleat 
fuze [fuzee, probably] , the other a New french Eegular gun 

"William Stacy Maj"^ 
" William Smith Lt 
"Benj'^ Hascal Sero-t." 

And again, in Mass. Rolls, vol. 15, p. 61, we find one entitled, 
" A muster-roll of the Company under the command of Captain 
John King in Colonel Woodbridge's Regiment to the first of 
August, 1775." 

The first line is in substance as follows : 

" William Meacham, town. New Salem ; rank. Captain ; killed 
June 17; time of enlistment. May ye 11"'; travel, 90 miles; 
amount, 1* a mile 7/6 ; time of service, 1 month 9 days ; whole 
amount, £8 05' 11"* 1"; guns 1, baj'onet 1, himself lost June 
17, and so on." 

On receipt of these facts, hy authority of the ]Mayor, these 
two names were inscribed upon the proper tablet in Charlcstown. 
In April, 1895, E. S. Willcox, of Peoria, 111., a great-grandson 
of Capt. Meacham, published an article in the New Enijlaud 



PREFACE. 7 

Historical and Genealogical Register, reciting these facts and 
adding some genealogical notes, together with the I'oU of Capt- 
Meacham's company, dated August 1, 1775. This article was 
reprinted in Boston City Document Xo. 147, of 1895. 

The third addition, that of private John Meads of Ashbjs is 
made pursuant to the following document, the original of which 
is owned by the well-known antiquary, Walter K. "Watkins of 
Chelsea, Mass. : 

"Camp ATT Winter Hill, Sep' 17"' 1775 
them Rcceecd of L' Silus jNIan of Capt Abishai Brown Companey 
the clotheing of John Meeds of Ashby and belonging to said 
Companey how Died the 17 of June Last to such and one Pare of 
Gray yarn Stoxings one tump line and snapsack Isa E'' V' 'Me 

David Locke" 

Mr. Watkins also states that the roll of Capt. Aljishai Brown's 
company, of Col. Nixon's regiment, dated 1 August, 1775 (Mass. 
Rev. Rolls, vol. 14, p. 24), gives the name of John j\Ieads, en- 
listed from Ashbj', 25 April, 1775, who sei'ved one month, 
twenty-six days. In the roll for 30 Sept., 1775 (Rolls, vol. SG, 
p. 24), of the same company, John Meads is marked deceased. 

No doubt exists that his name belongs on the roll of gloiy, 
and it has l)ccn also added on the bronze tablet, and printed on 
p. 136. 

It must be remembered that the object of these tablets and 
this memorial has been to furnish the names of those who were 
killed or moytaJhj tcounded at Bunker Hill. The credit of fight- 
ing there, and surviving, has l)ecn claimed for many soldiers, 
but the proofs are mainly traditional. 

One piece of evidence of the highest value remains, in the list 
of those suiwivors who attended the laj'ing of the corner stone of 
the Monument, June 17th, 1825. It is not a complete list of the 
combatants, but it is certain that these men were all in the 
battle. 



8 PREFACE. 

It was printed in Boston City Document No. 147, of 1895, 
and is as follows : 



THE SURVIVORS OF BUNKER HILL IN 1825. 



The following list of officers and soldiers ■who were in the Battle of 
Bunker Hill, and who reported themselves to the acting quartermaster- 
general, June 17, 1825, on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of 
the Bunker Hill monument, is taken from the original rolls in the office 
of the adjutant-general. The rolls were made up in pursuance of the 
following resolve respecting Revolutionary soldiers, passed by the General 
Court, June 16, 1825: 

" Resolved, That there be allowed and paid out of the treasui-y of the 
Commonwealth to such of the officers and soldiers who were in the Battle 
of Bunker Hill, on the 17th of June, A.D. 1775, and who may be present 
in the town of Charlestown or city of Boston on the approaching anni- 
versary of that event, the sum of three dollars each, and also the sum of 
one dollar for every twenty miles of travel to or from said town or city, 

' ' Resolved, That the acting quartermaster-general be directed to pre- 
pare a roll of aU such officers and soldiers as may report themselves to 
him for the procession aforesaid, and that His Excellency the Governor 
with the advice of the Council be requested to draw his warrant on the 
treasury for the amount in favor of each person who may be on said roll." 

A resolve, extending the time for the sur^-iving officers and soldiers of 
the Battle of Bunker Hill to obtain the sum allowed them for their attend- 
ance at the celebration of that event on the 17th of June, 1825, was 
passed by the General Court, January 26, 1826. 

These pay-rolls (three in number) were signed by each officer and. 
soldier or his representative, giving the name and residence, miles from 
Boston, amount of travel, and total amount. 

The rolls were first printed in the " Boston Journal," August 5, 1894. 
In the 1894 year book of the Massachusetts Societj' of the Sons of the 
American Revolution the names are classified by I'egiments. 

Roll No. 1. 

Josiah Pierce Biicklaud. 

John Holden Leicester. 

Isaac Livermore " 



PEEFACE. 9 

Obadiah Perry Weetford. 

Dauiel Jackson Newton. 

John Hart So. Reading. 

Thomas Emerson " " 

Tilly Mead Barre. 

Abel Parmeuter Sudbiuy. 

Amos Foster Tewksbury. 

James Dalrymple Marlboro'. 

James Frost Cambridge. 

Isaac Goodenow Lincoln. 

Samnel Lawrence Groton. 

Holland "Wood "Walpole. 

Jonathan Clark Abiugton. 

John Pushee AVestford. 

Abraham Cbikls Groton. 

Aaron Noyes Audover. 

Neversou Hastings Brookfield. 

Thomas Bixby Fraocistowu, N.H. 

AYilliam Campbell " " 

Jonah Howe Shrewsbury. 

Job Spofford Berlin. 

Nathan Johnson " 

Joseph Greeley W. Nottingham, N.H. 

Elijah Simmons Chaplin, Conn. 

Jonas French Dunstable. 

William French " 

Elisha Parker Hopkinton. 

David Parker Eeading. 

Daniel Nuttiuj Westford. 

Aaron Hayues Princeton. 

Caleb Abbott Andover. 

Elnathan Sawtell Groton. 

Samuel Jones Sudbury. 

John Brett Newburyport. 

Samuel Bassett Keene, N.H. 

Simeon Tyler Camden, Me. 

Theodore Gridley Paris, N.Y. 

Ebenezer Peabody Boxford. 

Nathaniel Rice E. Sudbury. 

"William Davis Haverhill. 

Sampson "Wood Groton. 

John Hoppiu Templeton. 



10 PREPACK. 

Jloses Blood Pepperell. 

Closes Richardson Concord. 

Samnel Wheeler " 

Daniel Lake Eindge, N.H. 

John Goodridge Leominster. 

Stephen Emory Winchendon. 

Enos Lake Eindge, N.H. 

Abram Hagar Princeton. 

.Jonathan Stevens Andover. 

Isaac Wright Dunstable. 

Nehemiah Wright Xelson, N.H. 

]\Ioses Bennett Xew Gloucester, Me. 

John Barker Andover. 

Eussell Dewey Westfleld. 

Josiah Seward Sullivan, N.H. 

Samuel Seward • " " 

Ivory Hovey Boxford. 

Ephraim Robbins Lancaster. 

Henry Gates Hubbardstown. 

William Gary Oxford. 

Ezekiel Wardwell Andover. 

Abraham Perkins Ipswich. 

William Low Gloucester. 

John Bui-nham Londonderry, N.H. 

Johu Coolidge Xatick. 

John Cook Xewburyport. 

Benjamin Gould " 

Joshua Yeomans Norwich, Conn. 

Daniel Somerby Newburyport. 

Isaac H. Ely Charlestown, N.H. 

Enos Reynolds T-oxford. 

William Wairen 'Worcester. 

Jesse Smith Salem. 

William Harden Portsmouth, N.H. 

Roll No. 2. 

Daniel Ingersoll Keene, N.H. 

Nathaniel Thwing Brookfield. 

Daniel Brown Moultonboro', N.H. 

Isaac Andrews Hillsboro", N.H. 

Solomon Twist Boston. 




C3 

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PREFACE. 11 

Richard Gilchrist Dublin, N.H. 

Josiah Cleveland Oswego, N.Y. 

John Ware Deerfield. 

James Clark • . . Lebanon, Conn. 

John Wright BUlerica. 

Timothy Gordon . Newbury. 

Francis Mitchell New Ipswich, N.H. 

Samuel R. Trevett Boston. 

William Harris Marblehead. 

Henry Hanson " 

Flias Bacon Boston. 

Nehemiah Abbott Lincoln. 

Samuel Ivers Boston. 

Joseph Dane Andover. 

Jeduthan Wellington W. Cambridge. 

Benjamin Webber Gloucester. 

John Stevens Greenwich. 

Uriah Wright Beverly. 

Azariah Dickinson » . Boston. 

Jacob Frost Norway, Me. 

Benjamin Butman Dixmont, Me. 

Benjamin Bullard Hopkinton. 

Joseph Powars Charlestown. 

Nathan Maynard Jaflrey, N.H. 

George Leach Salem. 

Joshua Dauforth Saugus. 

William Thorning Lexington. 

Ebeuezer Parker South Reading. 

Nathan Fisher Westboro'. 

Nathaniel Wade Ipswich. 

Joseph Hodgkins " 

Jabez Farley " 

Elias Pike Salisbury. 

Philip Bagley Newburyport. 

Amos Pearson " 

Jonathan Woodman " 

Lemuel Coffin "■ 

Abijah Woo 1 Westminster. 

Jonas Pierce Hopkinton. 

Edmund Rice E. Sudbury. 

Robert Steel Dedham. 

Enoch Baldwin Milton. 



12 



PREFACE. 



Baruch Leland 
William Clark . 
Abijah Fox 
James Varnum 
Joseph Nichols 
Henry Flint 
Simon Ward well 
Stephen Long . 
David Brewer . 
Isaac Smith 
Theophilus Frye 
Nathan Craig . 
Thomas Sprague 
Benjamin Mann 
John Trowbridge 



Sherburn. 

Dracut. 

it 

Grafton. 
Carlisle. 
Andover. 

u 

Framingham. 
Holliston. 
Andover. 
Spencer. 

u 

Troy, N.Y. 
Framino;ham. 



EoLL No. 3. 

Ephraim Squires Ashford, Conn. 

Simeon Noyes Salem. 

Edward Harrington Concord. 

Moses Greenwood Hopkinton. 

Josiah Haskell Boston. 

Samuel Temple Acton . 

Aaron Merrill Hampton Falls, N.H. 

John Towue Boxford. 

Jacob B. Currier Amesbmy. 

Joseph Trask Billerica. 

John Tucker Gloucester. 

Leonard Parks Camljridgeport. 

Richard Loring Newburj-port. 

Jonathan Weston So. Eeadkig. 

Gershom Hyde Newton. 

Amos Farnsworth Groton. 

Hezekiah Thorndike Chelmsford. 

Joseph Boutelle Reading. 

Benjamin Farnum Andover. 

Jonas Varnum Dracut. 

Jonathan Minot Westminster. 

Caleb Barton Leicester. 

Benjamin Butterfield Chelmsford. 

Onesimus Newell New Ipswich, N.H. 

Solomon Smith Acton, 



PREFACE. 13 

Thomas Thorp Acton. 

Francis Davidson Londonderry, N.H. 

William Dickson Charlestown. 

Thaddeus Muuroe Hillsboro', N.H. 

Jonathan Wheelock Concord. 

Zibeon Hooker Newton. 

Caleb Stark Dunbarton, N.H. 

. Calvin Stevens Mt. Vernon, N.H. 

Jonathan Maynard Framingham. 

Thomas Davis Holden. 

Jonathan Beard Harvard. 

John Edmons Maiden. 

Reuben Baker Lunenburg. 

Jacob Peu'ce , Jaft'rey, N.H. 




The variations in this edition from previous ones are, the Preface, 
pp. 5-13, and on pages 96, 101, 113, 123, 133, 136. 

Four of the heliotype views have been taken anew, as the tablets 
have been altered since they were first erected. 

WiLLiAJi H. Whitmore. 

Boston, January, 1896. 



BUNKER-HILL TABLETS. 



In the year 1888 the suggestion was made that tablets be pro- 
vided, giving a list of the soldiers who fell at the battle of 
Bunker Hill, and the following order was introduced in the 
Common Council, March 29, by Mr. Keexan, of Ward 8, and 
unanimously adopted : — 

Ordered, That the Joint Special Committee on the 
Seventeenth of June Celebration consider the expe- 
diency of pro^dding suitable tablets, to be ijlaced on 
Bunker Hill Monmnent, said tablets to bear the names 
of the American patriots who fell in the battle of 
June 17, 1775, and that said committee be requested 
to report at the next meeting of the Common Council. 

The committee, however, failed to make a report upon the 
subject, although at a subsequent meeting of the Common 
Council Mr. Eeilly, a member of the committee, stated that 
they had made inquiries in regard to the matter, and had learned 
that an incomplete but reliable list could be obtained at the 
State House. Nothing further was done, as the committee were 
unable to procure the lists before the close of the year. 

On the 24th of January, 1889, the subject was revived 
by Mr. Keexax, of Ward 8, who submitted another order 
regarding the matter, as follows : — 



BTnOCEK-HILL JIEMOKIAL. 15 

Ordered, That a special committee of five members 
of tlie Common Council, with such as the Board of 
Aklennen may join, be appointed to arrange and pre- 
pare four bronze tablets to bear the names of the 
American patriots killed or fatally injured at Bunker 
Hill, June 17, 1775; said tablets to embrace the requisite 
list of names now in the hands of the Record Commis- 
sioners, with such other names that belong in the list; 
said tablets to be comjileted in season for erection on 
the occasion of the coming celebration of the anniversary 
of the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1889; said tablets 
to be placed in such position as the committee may 
detennine in connection with the site of the battle, and 
the expense of the tablets to be charged to the appro- 
priation for Incidentals for the fiscal year of 1889 
and 1890. 

The order was discussed somewhat in the two branches, but 
was passed unanimously and approved by His Honor the Mayor, 
February 6, and the committee was constituted as follows : — 

Aldermen : Benjamin F. Stagey, Albert A. Folsom, Homer 
Rogers ; Councilmen, Thomas F. Keenan, William H. Oakes, 
Frank E. Bagley, Israel F. Pierce, and William J. Doherty. 

The committee lost no time in entering upon the work assigned 
them, and in their labors they were ably assisted by William H. 
Whitmore, Chairman of the Board of Eecord Commissioners, 
and an antiquarian of established reputation. The work per- 
formed by the committee, and the difficulties encountered by them, 
are fully set forth in their reports to the City Council, which are 
printed as city documents,' and are incorporated in the appendix 
to this volume. It is, therefore, only necessary to state that the 

' City Documents of 18S9, Nos. 73 and 111. 



16 ACTION" OF THE CITT GOVERlSlVrEXT. 

lists were completed as satisfactorily as possible, and the contract 
for castinsf the bronze tablets that should contain the names was 
awarded to C. T. Robinson & Co., of this city. 

As objections were made to locating the tablets upon the 
Monument grounds it was decided to place them upon Win- 
throp square, a small plot of ground belonging to the city, 
adjacent to the Monument grounds, and formerly known as 
the "Training Field," and arrangements were made accord- 
ingly. A design for mounting the tablets was prepared by 
Charles J. Bateman, City Architect, and a position assigned 
for them, and a new entrance made at the northwest corner 
of the square. The arrangements for the dedication, which 
was to take place June 17, having been completed, invi- 
tations to attend the exercises were issued to His Honor the 
Mayor and the members of the City Council, His Excellency 
the Governor and staff; also to the governors of New Hamp- 
shire and Connecticut, the committee securing the services 
of Hon. John R. MuRPHr as orator and Dr. Thomas W. 
Parsons as poet upon the occasion. 



DEDICATION OF THE BUNKER-HILL 
TABLETS. 



The 17th of June dawned unpropitiously for the cele- 
bration of the day ; the elements were threatening and the 
skies lowering and forbidding. At 9 o'clock A.M., the hour 
fixed for the dedicatory exercises, the committee and a goodly 
number of invited guests assembled at "Winthrop square. 
A stand had been provided for those who were to participate 
in the ceremonies, and was well filled with an interested 
group of spectators, composed chiefly of city ofiicials. The 
Germania Band, stationed near the fountain in the centre of 
the square, enlivened the occasion, at appropriate intervals, 
with patriotic airs, and around the square were collected a 
large number of people to witness the ceremonies of the 
dedication. 

As the hour arrived His Honor Mayor Hart arose and 
invited the attention of the audience while prayer was offered 
by Rev. Philo W. Spkague, of St. John's Episcopal Church, 
as follows : — 

PKAYER. 

Our Father Avho art in heaven; hallowed be Thy 
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on 



18 BinSTKER-HILL JMEMORIAL. 

earth, as it is in heaven. Give lis this day our daily 
bread. And forgive lis our trespasses as we forgive 
those who trespass against ug. And lead us not 
into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For Thine 
is the kingdom, and the j)ower, and the glory, for 
ever and ever. Amen. 

Heavenly Father, we come into Thy presence with 
grateful hearts this day. We would acknowledge 
Thee as the giver of every good and perfect gift. 
TVe bless Thee. "We praise and magnify Thy glori- 
ous name. 

'We thank Thee for all Thy mercies to us as a 
nation. Thy hand has been over us from the first 
even unto this day. Our fathers believed in Thee 
and were holpen. They trusted in Thee and were 
not ashamed. 

"We recognize Thee, our Heavenly Father, as the 
source of all that is highest and noblest in us. The 
desire for liberty and for light, the love of truth 
and of righteousness come to us from Thee. We 
have them because we are Thy children. 

We thank Thee for the good example of those 
whom we commemorate to-day. They were strong 
and brave because Thou didst enable them. When 
men are heroes, when they give their lives, as these 
men did, for freedom and for righteousness, — it is of 
Thee; and the glory of what they did is Thine. 

Heavenly Father, we pray Thee to be with us as 
Thou hast been "with those who have been before us. 
Bless this nation in the future as Thou hast blessed 
her in the past. Bless this city and this Common- 



UEDICATIOX OF THE TABLETS. 19 

wealth. Give ns the love of truth and righteous- 
ness. Help us to reverence Thy laws. Help us to 
accomplish Thy purposes for us as a nation. Bless 
the homes throughout this land. Adorn them with 
purity, with sobriety, and goodness. Bless our schools 
and churches, and every instrumentality that labors 
for the common good. Give to us all a love for 
this land Thou hast so signally blessed. Fill us 
with true patriotism, banishing from our hearts all 
sectional spirit; and may all citizens of this land, 
from whatever part of the world they may come, 
whatever their color or their creed, unite in love and 
devotion to their fatherland. 

Bless, we beseech Thee, the worlc in which we are 
now engaged. May the memorials of the fathers 
excite the emulation of the children. As we think 
of the brave deeds done by the men of whom we 
think to-day, may it lead us to be brave and true 
in whatsoever work Thou shalt give us to do. Let 
no thought of the past be in vain, but may it stimu- 
late us to nobler action and to higher life. 

Direct us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, in all our 
doings with Thy most gracious favor, and further us 
with Thy continual help, that in all our works begun, 
continued, and ended in Thee, we may glorify Thy 
holy name, and finally by Thy mercy obtain everlast- 
ing life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

At the close of the prayer the Mii3'or introduced Master JoHisr 
S. Keating, who read in a creditable manner tlie following ode, 
composed for the occasion by Dr. Thomas W. Parsons. 



20 BUNICER-HLLL MEMOKLAl,. 



ODE FOR THE DEDICATION OF THE BUNKER-HILL 

TABLETS. 



Under the golden dome where laws are made, 
The stones yet stand that once around the base 
Rose, of the ancient column in that place ; 

And on those graven tablets is displayed 
A record of the mighty train 

Of great events that, following fast 
Through seven long years of watchings and fears, 

Throes, and unutterable strain, 
In God's ripe season led at last 
Our land to glory through that vale of tears. 



And this, moreover, the stones have said : 
While from this eminence j'ou survey 

Scenes of luxury, gardens of wealth. 
Homes of laborious industry and health, 
Tilth and orchard, uplands, plain, 
And clovered meadows reaching far away, 
"With halls of learning hid in elmy bowers 

Your supereminent domain ! 
"Whate'er of republics may have been 
Spoken aforetime, the imputed sin 
Of thanklessness must not be ours. 



III. 

From the golden dome where laws are made 
There went a mandate forth : 
On yonder hallovred mount to the north 



BEDICATIOX OF THE TABLETS. 21 

Let the best men ia buildLng skilled 

A tower of rocks to the high heavens build, 

To stand at once a monument and shrine, 

A pillar, in everlasting sign, 

Like that which Hercules of yore 

Set on the Gaditanian shore. 

Crying to tyrants. Come no more ! 

And the fire in the cresset that flamed of old, 

Beaconing the mariners up Boston bay. 

Shall bum forever from this new tower, • 

Like a ruling star of benignant ray 

For every people to behold, — 
A watch-fire in the purpled west , 
Steadfast and stroug for all the oppressed 

To fly to from tyrannic power. 



IT. 



New England's air was never tainted long 
With any tyranny ; the prairie-winds 
Breathed from the illimitable "West 
Into those English hearts and minds 

A new-born sense of space that made more strong 
A vigour chafed for centuries by the sea. 
And for high ventures nerved each daring breast. 
Our Fathers alwaj-s had been free. 

Those men who Freedom's battle fought, 
Holding all kings but One in scorn. 

Though with a mighty price they bought 
Your freedom, were free born ; 
And Carolina's and Virgtaia's blood 
Tempered to like disdain of shackled thought. 
Beat with one pulse, when Liberty's glad morn 
Alike to North and South broke o'er the Atlantic flood. 



22 BinSTKER-HILL HIEMORIAL. 



"Why should the Muse ou dreadful details dwell, 

To make a calendar of her lyre? 
Is it a story of no renown — 
The redoubt, the frigates, the blazing town. 

Fronting the Falcon's fire ; 
How the regulars rushed and the yeomen fell, 
Butts and bayonets plying as well ; 

Rolled and trod in the crimson mire 
Of the dust and blood beneath? 

Close quarters then ! for a captain cries, — 
As the troops marched up, — " Let tliem come nigherl 

Hold till you mark the whites of their eyes, 
And the gleam of their British teeth." 
Ah ! many felt, as the bullets flew, 
We fight for Englishmen in fighting you. 



On from that dread to this triumphal June, 
And now while natures are all in tune, 
That children hereafter may come to spell 
Prescott and Warren and all who fell, 
Hard by on that bitter afternoon, 
Bearing on History's page so proud a part. 
We hang these bronzes on om- country's heart. 
Not for the splendour of the fight, 
Not for the number of the slain, 
Not for the day's defeat and flight, 
But for the final crowning of the right, 
And mankind's measureless gain. 
This other commonwealth of kings, 
Born here ou Bunker's height. 

Have fluttered their flag of stars, 
Like a labarum of light, 



DEDICATIOX OF THE TABLETS. 23 

Beyond the Tiber, by Peter's throne, 

Beyond the hill of Mars, 
As those elder freemen, through every zone 
Carried their eagles on outspread wings. 

And blazoned S. P. Q. Rs. 



vn. 

Say then, O poet ! when sages 

Shall anew the tale relate, 
Not for a thousand ages 

Was a little battle so great ; 
Yea, write, besides, on j'our pages, 

With an adamantine pen, 
Not for a million ages 

May such battle be fought again. 



Remembering what our statesman said, 
"27ja< the blood of your fathers may not have been shed 
For humankind in vain," ^ 
Up with your tablets to grace the dead ! 
And while you hang them, let great London hear 
Little Boston's exultations. 
Let all nations far and near ; 
Let sacred Italy and Spain, 
Norway, Denmark, and the men 
"We love in Germany and France 
Rejoice at this day's doings. Then 
^^ Advance, ye future generations," ^ 
And lead the world's advance ! 

^ "Words of WebsLer, 



24 BUNICER-HILL MEMOEIj\i,. 

At the close of the reading of the poem, Mayor Hart 
read a letter from His Excellency Governor Ames, regret- 
ting his inability to be present on account of sickness, and 
he then delivered the followino; address : — 



EEMARKS OF MAYOR THOMAS N. HART. 

Fellow-Oitizexs : — "We are met to dedicate and 
consecrate the tablets commemorating" the names of 
the patriots who fought and fell that "we might he a 
great nation. This is filial and right. It proves 
once more that cities and republics are not ungrateful, 
and that we know how to honor the plain yeoman, as 
well as the captain and commander. But more im- 
i:)ortant and far nobler than to dedicate bronze tablets 
is it to dedicate and consecrate ourselves and all that 
we have and hope to the cause for which the patriots 
contended. I hold the 19th day of April, 1775, to 
be the true birthday of this nation. The Battle of 
Bunker Hill, fought less than sixty days after Lex- 
ington, showed that the infant nation had a sturdy 
being of its own, which even the mother from Avhoni 
we sprung was bound to recognize and to respect. 
The patriots were defeated at Bunker Hill, the first 
great battle of our Revolution; but the defeat proved 
only that a child is not in all respects as strong as 
is a full-grown man. In a few years the child 
attained manhood. The bloody battle of Bunker Hill 
convinced Amei'ica, Great Britain, and all the world 
that we had ceased forever to be a colony and de- 
pendent. In 1775 we had no national flag or national 



DEDICATIOX OF THE TABLETS. 25 

constitution ; but we had that which is greater, — a 
nation with all the attributes of independence and 
true sovereignty. At Lexington we proclaimed with 
joy that a new nation was born; on Bunker Hill 
we declared, convincingly and fi'om deep conviction, 
that the new-born nation Avas not disposed to succumb 
to the power of another. We have now the oldest 
flag and the oldest written constitution of all the 
great nations. The child has become a man. And 
may we be as strong in purity and justice, in the 
reign of equality and true righteousness, as we are 
hi material magnitude. 

JMa3'or Hart then iutroduced the orator of the occasion, Hon. 
John R. Muephv, of Cburlestown. His address was a fine effort, 
fully in accord with the spirit aud sentiment of the occasion, and 
it was heartily approved and applauded by the audience. 



OEATION 



HON. JOHN E MURPHY. 



THE OEATION. 



We are assembled here to dedicate a memorial, in the 
form of bronze tablets, inscribed Avith the names of one 
hundred and forty men who died in defence of liljerty 
and human rights at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 
1775. To-day, the one hundred and fourteenth anniver- 
sary of that battle, is a fit and appropriate day for such 
a ceremony. It is never too late to repair an oversight, 
or to jiay a debt of honor. These tablets are erected by 
the city of Boston to perpetuate the memory of the 
common soldiers, as well as that of the leaders, who 
fought' and died in that famous fight. It is a tribute 
from a representative government of the people to the 
men of the people. The ground where the tablets are 
placed is appropriate. Above ns, on yonder eminence, 
stands the Bunker Hill monument, commemorative of the 
battle, a plain, granite shaft, yet how grand and majestic 
in its simplicity! The eloquence of Webster, that illus- 
trious son of ]S'eAV England, was at its foundation and 
completion. It speaks in silent eloquence of the patriots 
who fought and the bra\'e men who died on tjiat eventful 
day in June, 1775. /Upon the slope of Bunker Hill you 
place the tablets in the old training field, Avhere the citizens 
of years gone by were trained in the nse of arms nnder 



30 BinSTKER-HILL MEMORIAL. 

the shadow of yonder modern soldiers' monument, which a 
grateful municipality erected to perpetuate the patriotism 
of the soldiers of the war of the rebellion. "What more 
fitting- spot than this? You honor here in bronze the 
men who died in giving birth to our nation, who helped 
to light the torch of liberty's fires. In the granite of om* 
old jS'ew England hills yonder you perpetuate the fame 
of the worthy successor of the soldier of the Revolution, 
the soldier of the rebellion, who died to keep the Union 
whole and preserve for his children the heritage of free- 
dom which came to him pure and unsullied from his 
revolutionary sires. Tributes of honor to the first and 
the last American soldier do^wn to our day can find no 
more fitting ground than this to rest upon. 

It has been left for our country to recognize and re- 
spect the individual citizen and the indi\'idual soldier. 
"We are a government of the people, and a man who 
makes a sacrifice for his fatherland, be he never so lowly, 
his name should be forever written in the history of the 
nation. In the lands beyon.d the seas, where kings and 
emperors rule by so-called right divine, when men die in 
battle, their bones lie buried in a common trench, and 
over their nameless grave is raised perhaps a common 
monument. The officers and men of birth alone are 
known by name to posterity. In our free land they 
honor every man Avho dies for fatherland; on the roll of 
fame you'll find his name, be he rich or poor, black or 
Avhite. In our national cemeteries, " fame's eternal camp- 
ino'-srround," lie the nation's dead of the war of the 
rebellion, not nameless and unknoAvn, but marshalled 
rank on rank, and file on file, as once they proudly stood 



DEDICATION OF THE TABLETS. SI 

on parade. Underneath the green sod every man still 
keeps his recognized place, and there he aylII remain 
forever, each man's name chiselled in stone upon his 
grave, that future generations may know that he died for 
his country. It has been said, "It is sweet to die for 
one's country." It is sweeter still to die, and to know 
that, if we die, a grateful people treasures our name and 
fame, and that we are not forgotten. The memories of 
our soldiers are the nation's heritage, to ])e kept forever 
fresh and green, to be forgotten only when this govern- 
ment of the people perishes from off the earth. 

Honor has been given in the past to the leaders 
who died at Bunker Hill; their names and fame are 
perpetuated. To-day we give to the world, on tablets 
of everlasting bronze, the names of the men who stood 
in the ranks, who fought valiantly, and died nobly, — 
the common soldiers, who gave all that man could give 
(their lives) to plant the seed that gave free govern- 
ment of the people. It is appropriate that Boston 
should raise these tablets, for then, as now, she was 
ever foremost in championing the rights of man. AVell 
has it been sung — 

" Boston, as long as she shall stand, 
As long as her tides shall rise and fall, 
Shall sit on her ancient tlirone, 
And plead for the rights of all." 

Her citizens Avere leaders in all popular movements 
against the aggression of the British government. In 
Faneuil Hall Avere heard the voices of her sons de- 
manding justice for the people. On our streets oe- 



32 BUXKEE-IIILL MEMOKIAL. 

currecl the Boston massacre, the first blood shed for 
liberty. In our harbor the tea was thrown overboard, 
an act which set at defiance the British cro^vn. From 
the steeple of our Old ]S"orth Chm-ch was hung the 
light that caused the firing of the shot at Lexington 
"heard around the world." From the roofs and hills 
of our city, on that morn in June Avhen the Brit- 
ish marched up the hill to the attack, the wives and 
daughters of Boston were anxious watchers, and they 
prayed for victory for their countrymen. Almost every 
act of opposition to the crown, — every step taken to- 
ward liberty, — saw its beginning in this town and 
neighborhood. As we were the i^rincipal aggressors, 
so were we the ones to receive the first attacks of the 
crown. The port of Boston was closed, and by every 
possible means the crown sought to coerce our city, 
but without avail. The English government of that 
day likened the agitation to a snake, each part repre- 
senting a section of the country. Boston was the 
head. Crush that, and you stamp out the agitation 
forever. Without Boston there would have been no 
Bunker Hill, and without Bunker Hill the torch of 
liberty would not have burned so brightly on our 
shores. There was no necessity to have fought the 
battle of Bunker Hill. With the whole country be- 
hind them, the Americans could have easily spared 
the hill to the British. It was more a desire to test the 
comparative fighting capacity of the American and 
British soldiers that led to the contest than any imme- 
diate material gain that was to be obtained by either 
side. The Americans burned Avith an ardent desii*e 



DEDICATIOX OF THE TABLETS. 33 

to meet their enemy in open field, while the English, 
confident of their superiority, "were equally anxious to 
wipe out the disgrace of Lexington, and crush at one 
blow the rebellion. At that time an idea prevailed 
among Englishmen that the American, as a race, had 
run to seed, had deteriorated from the high standard 
of the people whence he sprung. Lexington, they 
said, was but a skirmish, where their troops were shot 
down from ambush behind fences and trees. Let but 
the Americans meet them in battle, and another story 
would have to be told. We can form an idea of the 
estimate in which we were held from the statement of 
the English colonel Avho said that he Avould march from 
one end of the country to the other with only one 
regiment. They forgot the fact that ths American 
colonies were practically a nursery for soldiers from the 
earliest settlement, in 1620, down to the days almost 
of the Revolution. 

Li 164:5 the colonists fought the ISTarragansett Indians; 
in 1675 the second generation fought the bloodiest of 
wars with the Indians under King PhilijJ. Ten years 
later the Indians of Maine Avere fought, and the colonists 
dared to depose Governor Andros and array themselves 
in arms against England. Later on they conquered Port 
Eoyal, attempted the capture of Canada, and in 1715, 
five thousand ProAancials under Pepperell captured Louis- 
burg, the Gibraltar of America, spreading the fame of 
their arms throughout Europe. Up to Avithin tAvelve 
years before the breaking out of the Revolution the colo- 
nists Avere continually engaged in Avar with the French 
and Indians, the rifle and the poAvderhorn their daily com- 



34 BimKEK-IIILL MEMOKIAL. 

panions. If the English had paused to think, they would 
have realized that they were to meet men, many of whom 
had been trained for war by practical experience in war, 
officered by veterans of many a hard-fought field. 

I shall not tell the story of the battle of Bunker Hill. 
It is written in the hearts of all true and loyal Americans. 
"We know that the Americans occupied the heights of 
Bunker Hill the night before the battle, and that the 
English came over the river from Boston and sought to 
dislodge them. After a bloody conflict, lasting one and 
one-half hours, the powder of the Americans being ex- 
hausted, they retreated in good order, and left the hill in 
the hands of the English. It is in our hands now, — 
a fact that speaks for itself. The Americans lost in 
killed 140, and in wounded 271, captured 30, — in all, 
441. The English loss was 226 killed, 828 wounded, — 
total, 1,054. The result was a victory in every sense of 
the word for the Americans, and was so considered by 
the British, as shown in General Burgoyne's letters 
to the English government. This was the General Bur- 
goyne who afterward surrendered to General Gates, at 
Saratoga. The importance of the battle can hardly be 
realized. It gave renewed confidence to the revolution- 
ists. The steadiness and bravery shown by them when 
opposed to the veteran troops of England, was a cause of 
pride and joy to the whole country. It fired the hearts 
of all with patriotism. Before the battle there might 
have been some chance for a jieaceful settlement of the 
existing ditficulties, but after the battle the voice of all 
Av^as for war, and a government independent of England. 
The battle of Bunker Hill was the beginning of the end 



DEDICATION' OF THE TABLETS. 35 

of English domination on our -western hemisphere. An 
example was set the Avorkl. The desire for liberty spread 
from the example set on our shores. On this side of the 
ocean, the Spanish colonies of Mexico, Central America, 
and of South America, one after the other, i-evolted and 
threw otf their allegiance to monarchy, and established 
the i-epublican form of government, until in the ]N"ew 
World, with the exception of Brazil, a few islands, and 
our northern neighbor, Canada, the people, instead of 
being subjects of a monarchy, governed everywhere. 
The flame of liberty spread beyond the seas to France, 
and all over Europe. There was not a country where 
liberal concessions were not made to the people, and 
where the power of the ruling kings was not curtailed. 
The human race was the gainer to an extent inestimable, 
by the battle of Bunker Hill and the events that Avcnt to 
make up the American Revolution. 

One hundred and fourteen years ago occurred the 
battle the memory of which we here revere. It is 
within the memory of many here assembled Avhen 
men who fought at Bunker Hill Avalked and lived 
among lis. In the countries governed by monarchies 
for a hundred years, that length of time speaks for 
very little ; but in our land what a picture of progress 
do we behold under the free government which 
Bunker Hill and the Revolution gave to lis ! At the 
end of the Revolution, when England acknowledged 
our independence, we had thirteen colonies, weak and 
frail, stretching a narrow fringe of land along the At- 
lantic seaboard, with a population of less than three 
millions, — a farming community with little or no 



36 BtrXKEK-HtLL MEMORIAL. 

commerce or manufacturing. To-day our number con- 
sists of forty-two sovereign States, continental in extent, 
bounded only by the Atlantic ocean and the Pacific 
ocean on the east and west, and stretching on the 
north from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and 
the Rio Grande on the south. The land that in the 
days of our fathers was a trackless wilderness, peopled 
only by savage men, now in our time, from end to 
end, is covered with populous cities, and everywhere 
the busy hum of the advancing march of man. Three 
millions have gi'owii to nigh on to seventy millions of 
people. We have the richest, the safest, the most pro- 
gressive, and the freest land on the earth. On our 
domain the sun never ceases to shine. We have 
fought great wars and conquered. We have indulged 
in the greatest of intestinal quarrels, when the J^orth 
was arraigned against the South, brother against 
brother, in the war of the rebellion. By its result 
the one blot on the flag of our country was effaced. 
Slavery of the black man Avas abolished forever. In 
peace we have had our victory, as well as in war. 
Tlie world has never seen such magnanimity as was 
shown by the victor to the vanquished, when the 
North welcomed back their erring brothers of the 
South, Avhen the war of the rebellion was at an end. 
It takes a great and noble people, and a free and 
grand system of government, to heal the bi-each made 
by a fratricidal strife, so as to present, in less than 
one generation, the picture our land makes to-day, 
with her free government and institutions stronger 
than ever; peace, loyalty, contentment, and prosperity 



DEDICATION OF THE TABLETS. 37 

from one end of the land to the other. " Our 
country, our Avhole country, and nothing but om* 
country," is the watchword of all her citizens, black 
or white, be they from the Xorth, the South, the East, 
or the "West. 

" Chief of our own blest land 
To whom turned long oppressed mankind, 
A sacred refuge here to And. 
Of every race the pride and boast, 
From wild Atlantic's stormy coast 

To far Pacific's strand. 
Millions on millions here maintain 
Your generous aims with steady will, 
And make our vast imperial reign ' 

The world's asylum still." 

The world's asylum we are for those who hate oppres- 
sion and love liberty. On these bronze tal)lets of Bunker 
Hill heroes we find the names of men of all nationalities ; 
but they were none the less Americans. Then, as now, 
the people Avere originally from many lands. At Bunker 
Hill fought and died the Saxon from England, the Celt 
from Ireland and from Scotland, and the black man from 
Africa. They responded promptly in the hour of the 
country's peril, forgetfid of all else but the freedom and 
the wrongs of the land of their adoption. What truer 
Ameincan can there be than the man Avho, although his 
eyes may haA^e first seen the light upon a foreign shore, 
under an alien flag, yet closes his eyes in death upon the 
battle-field in defence of American institutions, and in 
helping to perpetuate the freedom of his adopted country. 



38 BUIS^KEE-HILL MEMORIAI,. 

Oiir fathers, after the successful terminus of the revo- 
kitionary war, founded a government based on the 
equahty of man, — a government of the people, for the 
people, and by the people. The oppressed of all climes 
were invited to come to free America, and here make a 
home. They came, and the nation has been the gainer. 
Ours is to-day a wonderful land, and in the future it 
promises to be still more Avonderful. Seventy millions of 
people, composed of different races and creeds, are here 
living harmoniously, working out the future destiny of a 
future homogeneous nation, such as has never been seen 
since the world first began. The lines that in the past 
have divided men of different races and creeds are disap- 
pearing, and to-day a man stands for what he really is as 
a man ; in his own keeping lies his future and his destiny. 
H^o longer class prejudice j^revents patriotism and genius 
from coming to the front. The questions to be asked 
are: "Is he honest?" "Is he capable?" "Is he true?" 
The possession of these qualities is the test of true Ameri- 
canism. The past half-century has seen wonderful prog- 
ress in the amalgamation of races here on our shores. 
Yet the future will be still more wondrous. Their past 
in other lands is but a memoiy: the future is here, where 
their homes are, Avhere they live and their children are to 
live after them. The day is not far distant when, like 
the sectional feeling which formerly existed here, the 
small remnants of those Old World prejudices of race and 
creed which we find, will be banished, like disease, and 
Americanism, founded on individual Avorth, love of coun- 
try, and pure patriotism, shall reign from one end of owe 
free laud to the other. 



^.c\« 



^t^ 



■^J 



p 



3 






ANNIYERSAEY SERMON 



REY. EDWARD M. TAYLOR. 



PEEFATOET NOTE. 



The celebration of the Seventeenth of June, 1889, was begun in 
reality on Sunday, the 16th. The members of Trinity Methodist 
Episcopal Church, on Higli street, Charlestown, of which Eev. E. 
M. Taylor was pastor, decided to hold commemorative services. 
The committee in charge of the affair were Messrs. B. F. Hatch, 
G. H. Stetson, and G. H. Gammans, of the church, and Maj. ^Y. 
H. Oakes, of the congregation. Invitations were sent to the Mayor 
and the City Council of Boston; A. Lincoln Post, No. 11, and G. 
L. Stearns Post, No. 149, G.A.E., and the Ladies' Relief Corps 
of both posts ; the Union Veterans' Union ; the U.S. Marine Corps ; 
the Sons of Veterans' Corps ; the High School Cadets of Charles- 
town ; and tlie officers of the Bunker Hill Seventeenth of June 
Association. The Charlestown Cadets, the Charlestown City Guards, 
and the Charlestown Artillery represented the military of the State. 
These guests, with citizens, filled the spacious church, which was 
appropriately decorated with bunting and plants. 

The services were commenced at 10.30 o'clock, A.M. The organ 
prelude, played by J. D. Jones, was Raff's march, " Leonora." 
The solo and chorus of Keller's "American Hymn" was effectively 
rendered. Miss Lizzie S. Fox sang Tours' "Gate of Heaven," 
a violin obligator)' by Frank 0. Mason adding to its beauty and 
power. The pastor's praj'er was a fervent and impressive one, and 
was followed by the anthem " To Thee, O Country," by Eichberg. 

The eloquent sermon which followed is given in full in this 
volume . 

The chorus "Triumphal March," by Costa, followed the address. 
The congregation united in singing "America," and the exercises 
closed with the benediction. 

The excellent arrangements of the committee were thoroughlj' ex- 
ecuted, and this unique service was universally recognized as a fitting 
prelude to the public exercises oa the following day. Charlestown 
has for years given much time and care to the proper celebration of 
this anniversarj', but none has been more appropriate tliau this, uor 
more fully appreciated by the citizens. 



ANNIVERSAIIY SEEMON, 

PREACHED JVSE 16, 1SS9, 

IN THE TRINITY ^^rETHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 

ON HIGH STEEET, CIIARLESTOWN. 



EEV. EDWARD ^[. TAYLOR. 



" Then Samuel took a stone, ami set it between Mizpeli anil Shen, anil called 
the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto Imth the Lord helped us." — 1 Sam. 
Tii. 12. 



Universal humanity loves to commemorate the great 
crises in its history. Every nation has its holidays, 
every religion its festal days. 

The very pages of secular and religious history 
owe their existence to this fact, that man will not 
jDermit the great doings of tlie jjast to be swept into 
oblivion by tlie tides of time. 

National birthdays are celebrated by orations and 
patriotic jjageants. Xo inspiration guides the eye of 
the sculptor like that which puts in marble form the 
hero of some great cause. 

J^o colors are mixed in such lastinof lines as those 
of the artist's soul when commissioned to put upon 



4:2 BinSTKEK-HILL MEMORIAL. 

the canvas some great historic scene where God and 
man have met to arbitrate in tlie crisis scenes of 
tlie race. 

Few traits of human nature are more beautiful 
than that sentiment of gratitude and thanksgiving 
that accompanies the intellectual appreciation of great 
historic events, where the men of the past have meas- 
ured up to duty, and left, as the results of their 
courage and sacrifice, choice blessings for posterity ; 
turning-points in history are always places for pro- 
found meditation. 

In our text Ave have our attention called to one 
of these memorable scenes. 

The children of Israel had Avon, by valor in arms, 
a great victory over the Philistines, and Samuel, 
Avishing to manifest his thanksgiving and transmit 
the fact to posterity, celebrates the occasion by rais- 
ing a stone monument on the j)lains of Mizpeh, and 
carving thereon the devout ackuoAvledgment of the 
text, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." Let us 
take these Avords as the suggestive basis of a few 
thoughts appropriate to the occasion of our gathering 
together this morning. 

What is the significance of this hour ? "What has 
called this vast audience together this morning in this 
sacred edifice ? "What sentiment is it that places me 
before these cIa^c and military representatives of this 
great municipality ? One hundred and fourteen years 
ago to-morroAV the yeomanry of 'New England gathered 
on this hill to measure SAVords Avith the soldiers of 
the greatest military poAver then on earth. Here Avas 



anist:versaky serjion". 43 

opened the contest between British tyranny and 
American liberty. Within the sound of my voice, 
twelve decades ago, American j)atriotism knew not 
the fear of death, when "bonds were to be broken 
and liberty won." 

To one who is a novice in American affairs there 
is a tinge of absurdity Avhen they view our Bunker 
Hill monument lifting its graceful form in commemo- 
ration of a battle that was a victory for English 
tyranny, and a defeat to American patriots. 

I remember sailing up Boston harbor, a few years 
ago, with an English tourist, whose attention was 
called to the gi-anite shaft on Bunker Hill as it Avas 
catching the last rays of the setting sun. 

He quickly replied in these words, " To an English- 
man it appears as a gross inconsistency, that Ameri- 
cans should erect a monument commemorative of an 
English victory and a Yankee defeat. As I read 
history," said he, " General Gage drove Colonel Pres- 
cott from his intrenchments and took possession of 
the hill." — " Yes," said a genuine Yankee, in reply ', 
"that is true, but I have read that in ancient Ger- 
many, Avhen two farmers wished to fix the line tliat 
divided their farms, each took his eldest son and led 
him to the dividing line, and there gave him a severe 
flogging, in order to impress upon the mind of each 
boy the position in which they stood when they 
received the chastisement ; that ever afterward they 
would remember the dividing line." So we remem- 
ber Bunker Hill as the spot on which we were 
whipped in battle j but that marks forever the line 



44 BUNKER-HILL MEMORIAL. 

where British tyranny ended and American liberty 
began. 

Even in the sense of a mere dividing hne, we 
are on ground made classic by the struggle for Ameri- 
can liberty. This spot is rich in those sentiments 
that stir the patiiotic heart. Here American patriot- 
ism lighted the torch of liberty, and carried forward 
that light, through scenes of conflict and discourage- 
ment, till its rays touch every face in a Republic 
numbering more than sixty million human beings. 
We are on an eminence whose heroic memories focus 
the light of freedom. The celebration in which Ave 
are to engage to-morrow is not a wild burst of igno- 
rant fanaticism. It is a memorial of the i^atriotism 
of our fathers. The event here chronicled vitally 
affects our personal fortune^ as a nation, and is the 
tap-root of the independence of our national existence. 
The courage, the patriotism, the sacrifice of the men 
who aimed the muskets over yonder redoubt, more 
than one hundred years ago, were the constructive 
agencies of that peace, prosperity, and happiness that 
broods over every American fireside to-day. The 
heroic deeds of Colonel Prescott's men, in 1775, have 
given stamina and grit to every contest in which our 
nation has engaged during the long and eventful 
years intervening between their day and ours. And 
whatever are to be the contingencies of the future, 
amid the temptations of statesmanship, or the selfish- 
ness of partisanship, the spirit of freedom, crystallized 
by the heroes of Bunker Hill, will be a talisman 
against baseness and the betrayal of national trust to 



AJSTN^IVERSARY SERHOX. 45 

generations yet unborn. This hill will be the pil- 
"■rimao-e and Mecca of patriotic Americans till time's 
last hour. In appreciation of this thought, it is be- 
coming that our Mayor and City Government should 
place before the eyes of the American people, on 
fixed memorial tablets, the names of the valiant men 
who bared their bosoms to the leaden storm, and went 
down amid the wild, tempestuous burst of battle-flame 
that illuminated Bunker Hill when American liberty 
was on trial for its life. 

Astronomers tell us that there is doubtless magnetic 
contact between every planet of our solar system, and 
that, if an alphabet of telegrajihic signals could be 
arranged, we would be able to communicate with our 
sidereal neighbors. However visionary this scheme may 
appear, let it be asserted as a fact that all the de- 
velopments of the American Republic are vitally con- 
nected, through the medium of patriotism, Avith the 
glorious scenes of devotion and sacrifice for liberty, 
the lio-ht of which irradiated the brow of Bunker 
Hill one hundred and fourteen years ago. On this 
spot the yeomanry of l^evr England asserted the prin- 
ciples of "Freedom's great experiment." Here, amid 
the terrible scenes of battle, Avas the young Republic 
cradled, and here was the infant principle defended 
from the strangling clutch of kingly tyranny. Here 
the living form of classic Freedom rose from the 
wrecked hopes of the past; defying her enemies and 
setting firm foot upon this virgin soil, Avith lier faith 
in one hand, and her SAVord in the other, commenced 
the conflict that unfurled her starry banner of free- 



46 BTHSTKER-HILL MEMOIUAL. 

dom over a permanent Republic among the nations 
of the world. 

As our immortal Webster says : " The great event 
in the history of this continent, the prodigy of modern 
times, and the blessing of the world, is the American 
Revolution." 

At the present hour we are so accustomed to the 
civil and religious blessings of this free country, that 
we find it difficult to conceive of a state of afiairs 
otherwise than they now exist. 

AVe read the Declaration of Independence, and never 
dream of the contradiction of those sentiments by any 
rational mind. But when those sentiments were put 
forth in the actions of our fathers in 177G, when 
those immortal names were added to that sacred 
document, it Avas treason and rebellion ; and these 
were mipardonable crimes in the views of the proud 
and unscrupulous monarch ^vith Avhom they had to 
deal. 

Fellow-citizens: Have you ever tried to ii^agine 
yourselves members of that army that Prescott brought 
from Cambridge to fortify this hill on the night of 
June 16, 1775 ? There was at that time no banner 
under which they could march as the palladium of 
liberty. "Working with pick and shovel to throw up 
their intrenchments, and during the long night hear- 
ing the cry from the sentry on the English man-of- 
war: "All's well! All's well!" and yet feeling in the 
depth of the heart that on the morrow it would be 
very far from " loell " Avith many of them. What 
forebodings must have filled their nnnds as they chal- 



AKNIVERSARY 6ERJIOX. 47 

lenged the mother-country to arms ! If the difficulty 
must be settled by the dread arbitrament of war, 
how could a skeleton of insignificant colonies, stretch- 
ing from Maine to Georgia, raise and support an army 
to contend with the foremost military nation on the 
globe ? 

The men who entered upon such a course of action 
loiew not but that they were signing their 0A\ai 
death-warrants. It was a grim pun, but there was 
truth enough in it to make it terrible, when one of 
the signers of the Declaration of Independence re- 
marked, as he wrote his name, "Unless we all hang 
together, we shall all hang separately." 

There were some terrible examples of the failure 
of such work in the past. The bloody scenes of the 
Jacobite rebellion, from 1715 to 1744, were still fi-esh 
in the English mind ; and the memory of Cullodcn 
field, Avhere the courageous Highlanders were defeated 
and butchered by the regulars of the British army, Avas 
a threatening prophecy of what English regulars might 
do in these struggling colonies, and begin the work 
on Bunker Hill. It was personal risk, home risk, 
business risk, risking everything but self-respect. But 
the conscious self-approval of a just cause led them 
to count life itself as nothing in comparison Avith 
the great boon of freedom for Avhich they were con- 
tending. 

" One self-approving hour whole ■worlds outweighs 
Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas, 
And more true joy Marcellus, exiled, feels 
Thau Cffisar with a senate at his heels." 



48 BITNTKER-^HILL MEMORIAL. 

It Avas simply impossible to enslave the inhabitants 
of these colonies through a sense of fear, or to in- 
timidate them by the presence of -well-trained English 
soldiers. History describes no set of men less fitted 
by character, habits, and traditions to endure oppres- 
sion than the early settlers of the American Republic. 
Schooled in their pioneer life to hardshii) and en- 
durance, they were just the material to successfully 
oppose the oppressions of kingship. 

The reverberating" echoes of the axe and the cow- 
bell through the leafy depths of the primeval forest 
opened their whole life to the idea of freedom. In- 
nocent of literature, they learned the Bible by heart, 
and steeped their souls in the rich melody of those 
hymns that had been the consolation and inspiration 
of the sleeping centmnes. 

Ignorant of astronomy, they sat in their cabin 
doors counting the stars, and dreaming of the sj)irit 
shores beyond their golden sands. To such men and 
women " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." 

There is another thought connected with our cele- 
bration to-morrow claiming our attention, and that is 
the potency of educated leaders in our revolutionary 
crisis. 

The valor and heroism of the men who stood 
in battle line on this hill more than a century ago 
crushed forever the hopes that England had enter- 
tained of easy triumph by her trained and discij^lined 
soldiers over the hastily collected bands from the 
farms and woi-kshops of ISTew England. It, moreover, 
created a confidence in the minds of the Continental 



AXXIVEUSAllY SEKMOX. 49 

troops of their ability to cope successfully with 
British regulars on equal terms. 

The English had possession of Bunker Ilill ; but 
they were shut within their lines about Boston more 
closely than ever. When the English officer called 
the roll, after the din of battle had ceased, more 
than one thousand men were found missing; for the 
number of soldiers engaged, England never sustained 
such a loss on her bloodiest battle-fields in the Old 
World ! Yet there was Avanting at this time the 
chief feature that was to secure the success of the 
American cause, namely, the unification of the Amer- 
can forces in the struggle for liberty. As yet the 
conflict was simply a !New England quarrel. The 
thirteen colonies at this time Avere not a unit in 
their desire for independence. AVlien Sam Adams, 
Gushing, Paine, and John Adams Avere sent as dele- 
gates to the first Congress at Philadelphia, a party 
of Philadelphia "Sons of Liberty" came out to meet 
the . Massachusetts delegation, and Avarned them that 
they had been represented as " four desperate ad- 
A'cnturers, John Adams and Paine being laAVj'ers of 
no great talents, reputation, or Aveight, Avho were 
seeking to raise themselves into consequence by 
courting popularity;" moreover, that "they Avere sus- 
pected of haAdng independence in AdcAV." 

In this state of affairs something more than A'alor 
on the battle-field was required. The union of the 
disintegrating forces of the thirteen colonies must be 
secured; the quarrel to the bitter end must be shared 
by all. Unless tliis stake could be won, all would 



50 BinSTKER-HILL MEMORIAL. 

be lost. In this alone, at this critical time, was the 
salvation of the cause of freedom. Far-seeing states- 
manship was required now. Intelligent judgment must 
steer the craft of American liberty into a safe har- 
bor; and in John Adams, of Braiutree, the need 
found the man. At the second session of Congress 
John Adams arose and moved that the Congress 
should adopt the army before Boston, and appoint 
Colonel George "Washington, of Yirginia, the comraan- 
dei"-in-chief. 

Many wise heads expressed their doubts of the pro- 
priety of putting a Southern man at the head of an 
army in J^ew England, composed of ]S'ew England 
men, and commanded by 'New England officers. John 
Hancock, the President of that Congress, could not 
conceal his mortification, for he had his own asjoira- 
tions in that direction. Pendleton, Washington's asso- 
ciate from Virginia, opposed it; and Sherman, of 
Connecticut, was against it. 

In the face of such oj^position it was a bold as- 
sumption of responsibility. 

However, within a fortnight after the battle of 
Bunker Hill, Washington took command of the 
American forces, under the classic elm of Cambridge. 
The result was the salvation of the cause of free- 
dom. The matchless character and wonderful organ- 
izing skill of Washington consolidated the former 
disintegrating forces in the colonies, presenting united 
hearts and a solid front to the enemy. 

By this act John Adams shows what an educated 
mind and well-poised judgment did for the cause 



AZSTsIVEKSART SERMOX. 51 

of freedom in a critical hour. Tnily says the histo- 
rian, that "this Puritan statesman assumed one of 
the greatest political risks recorded in the world's 
history." 

This incident leads ns to the contemplation of a 
thought that frequently is overlooked on the occasions 
of our national celebrations, and that is the leader- 
ship of educated men in the critical period of om" 
national history. There is an idea abroad in our 
land to-day, that any man is fit for office, provided 
he may secure the requisite number of votes. In 
our j^o^itical contests, availcibility is frequently the 
requisite of official position, rather than intelligent 
ability. 

In this judgment we are flying in the face of all 
the annals of the past. All history shows that the 
unresting pressure of a body of able, intellectual 
men, resolutely striving for a definite end, furnishes 
a motive-power that the reluctant masses cannot 
resist. 

While we never weary of the encomiums pi'onomiced 
over the heroes of the Revolution, who made up the 
rank and file of that army, the leadership of educated 
and well-developed men in those days affords a very 
profitable field of study. The successful wea^mig of 
the principles of liberty into the fabric of this great 
Republic was accomplished by educated statesmanship, 
as well as indomitable soldier corn-age. 

The development of this majestic, consolidated nation 
of to-day, from the imperfect league of thirteen jealous 
colonies, is a triimiph to be laid at the feet of edu- 



52 BUXKEIl-IIILL. MEMOKIAL. 

cated citizenship as truly as it belongs to the proAvess 
of the citizen-soldier. American scholarship paved the 
way for the union of the States. 

Our national life did not begin with ignorant and 
savage men. The foundation-stones of our nation 
were laid by skilful hands and educated minds. 
Roger "Williams was banished because Massachusetts 
said, " He had broached and divulged new and dan- 
gerous opinions against the authority of magistrates." 
One hundred years later that thought was the life- 
blood of the American Revolution. The great work of 
preparing the tliirteen colonies for the Revolutionary 
war, for the reception of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, for the adoption of the Constitution, originated 
in the minds of men who Avere giants in intellectual 
accomplishments, and proverbial for moral character. 
These men were the intellectual peers of any of the 
great statesmen Avho adorned the monarchies of the 
Old World. 

It was a Harvard College boy, delivering his master 
oration in 1743, — Sam Adams by name, — Avho argued 
that it Avas laAArful to resist the supreme magistrate if 
the State could maintain its life no other Avay. The 
sentiment of tliat oration led to the ratification of the 
same on Bunker Hill. 

In 1750, the chief pulpit orator of 'New England, 
Jonathan MayhcAv, preached in Boston the famous 
sermon called the " morning gun " of the Revolution, 
applying the jarinciple of rebellion against the tyi'amii- 
cal authority of the magistrate. The New England 
pulpit generally took up the note, and spread the idea 



AXXrVEKSAKY SEllMOX. 53 

ill every hanilet and "sdllage, and twenty-five years 
later it broke fortli in tlie roar of battle on Bunker 
Hill. 

It was a son of Harvard College, James Otis, who, 
listening to a sermon from the text, " Ye are many 
members in one body," conceived the idea of the 
American Congress. 

It was a son of Tale College, John Morin Scott, 
who declared that if taxation without representation 
were to be enforced, the colonies ought to separate 
from England. 

It was a Xew England scholar, John Adams, of 
whom Jefferson said, " He was a colossus of debate," 
and of whom Stockton said, he was the "altar of in- 
dependence," and of whom Rufus Choate, in later days, 
said, " He was the distinctive and comprehensive orator 
of the Revolution." It Avas the Puritan scholar who, 
in the Continental Congress, forged arguments Avith 
the power of a thunderbolt, " touching every spot of 
passion, pride, tenderness, interest, conscience, and 
lofty indignation up swept his country into a chariot 
of fire, and soared to independence." 

In these statements Ave do not overlook the heroic 
sacrifice and service, laid on the altar of libertA', from 
the farm and workshop. Xathaniel Grreen and his de- 
serted blacksmith-shop; Esek Hopkins, with his plough 
left in the furrow, — these and their like Avill ever be 
classic incidents in the story of our country. 

But Ave do emjjhasize the fact, that in the prepara- 
tory Avork of constructing and perpetuating this Re- 
public it was educated men Avho, from the pulpit and 



54: BinSTKER-HILL MEMOIJIAI.. 

jjlatform, conducted the great discussions that made 
possible sucli an event as the Kevolutionaiy war, and 
that created our sacred document, tlie Constitution 
of tlie United States. 

Let us look in upon that Constitutional Convention 
for a few moments. There were fifty members in 
that august body of nation-makers. Bancroft calls 
them the " goodliest fellowship of lawgivers whereof 
this world holds record." And of their work, our 
ISTational Constitution, Mr. Gladstone declares that it is 
"the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given 
time, by the brain and purpose of man." 

These fifty-five men were all of them respected for 
family and for personal qualities. Twenty-nine of the 
members of that convention were university men: 
graduates of " Harvard," " Yale," " Columbia," " Prince- 
ton," "WilHam and Mary," "Oxford," "Glasgow," and 
"Edinburgh." And the eight leaders of the great 
debate were all college men. 

It was Alexander Hamilton, a son of Columbia Col- 
lege, who drew I^ew York into the Union from under 
the strong hand of George Clinton. It was a son of 
"Princeton," James Madison, who in the very face of 
the fiery eloquence of Patrick Henry brought Virginia 
into the compact, and our union of States under our 
Constitution was complete. 

I am not reviewing these facts with any derogatory 
purpose of reflecting on the great and good men who 
were active spirits in those days, through their self- 
made efforts, supreme intelligence, and consummate 
tact. Let my audience be the judges, if I have not 



AJSiOVERSAEY SERilOX. 55 

done justice to the herculean efforts and martyrs' 
sacrifices of the other heroes who, witli brawii and 
brain, helped launch oui- Republic on the ocean of 
national life. 

I am only trying to show you that this great nation 
was not the product of the pique and treason of igno- 
rant and disgruntled foreigners, and that the principle 
of civil and religious liberty that could find no home 
among the monarchies of the Old World required for 
their adjustment and establishment on these shores, 
not only the heroism and soldier courage of Bunker 
Hill and Yorktown, but the far-reaching intelligence 
and deep-toned judgments of statesmanship, — such as 
these men brought to their great task. 

Tliere is another thouglit that presses upon the 
devout student of American affairs and claims a place 
in the thoughtful consideration of our national de- 
velopment, namely, the manifest hand of Divine Provi- 
dence in the founding and perpetuation of our great 
Republic. There was the working of an iiuscen hand 
in the events Avhich resulted in the planting of this 
Republic in her geographical position, and also in the 
selection of the emigrants who should be instrumental 
in laying the foundation-stones of civil and religious 
libei'ty upon which our national structure has been 
built. 

Let us look at some of the facts of history in this 
connection. France, the land of refinement and cul- 
ture, made five unsuccessful attempts to colonize 
America. Spain, heroic and covetous of empire, 
whose munificent patronage made possible, through 



56 BUNKER-niLL MEMORIAL. 

Columbus, the discovery of the ^ew World, whose 
Queen Isabella declared that the ideas of Columbus 
should be carried out "Even if I pawn the crown 
jewels ; " but neither Columbus nor his Spanish 
successors could make America a Spanish prov- 
ince. The valiant Ponce de Leon, from his dis- 
covery of Florida in 1513, dazzled with the charms of 
wealth and power, struggled, with unparalleled energy, 
for eight years, to effect a permanent settlement; but 
an Indian arrow sent him to Cuba to die. After 
this, three heroic attempts were made by Spain to colo- 
nize America, yet they all failed. 

Then the sturdy descendants of the Saxon began 
the work of building America into a nation, upon the 
basis of civil and religious liberty. Two grand rep- 
resentative colonies appear on this continent, both 
having noble spirits as their leaders. The one begins 
the work of nation-building at Jamestown, Yirginia; 
the other, with Puritanic grit, strikes the ]S"ew World 
at Plymouth, Massachusetts. The tap-roots of the 
American Republic strike firmly into our soil from 
these two settlements, — from the one came our Wash- 
ington; from the other, our Adams. 

Again, there is a peculiar significance in the section 
of country over which these two colonies asserted 
their sway. What is the meaning of the pre$s of 
emigration that even in these early times selected 
the coast line between Maine and Florida as their 
destination ? " I know of no Avay of judging of the 
future but by the past," is a classic sentence of one 
of our early statesmen ; and applying that sentiment 



ASrXIVERSARY SEKMON. 57 

to the colonization in the early days of American 
history, this thought suggests itself, — that around 
this globe is a narrow belt stretching between the 
30th and 60th parallels of north latitude, within which 
have been enacted the greatest dramas in the devel- 
opment of the human race. St. Petersburg is on 
its northern boundary, in Europe, and Jerusalem is on 
its southern boundary, in Asia. TVithin this narrow 
belt have lived and acted the nations that have 
given direction to the thought of mankind. The 
peoples living within these bounds have created the 
philosophy of the race. All the ancient peoples that 
have given law, history, oratory, poetry, art, science, 
and government to mankind have lived Avithin this 
belt. Examine the map of the world 1 There, Avithin 
this zone, is the Mediterranean Sea, on whose islands 
and shores have been enacted the greatest events of 
the ancient world. There lies Italy, the throne of the 
once mighty empire of Rome ; and Roman jurispru- 
dence, as formulated in the code of Justinian, is the 
basis of all English law to-day. Within this border 
lies Greece, the nation of culture, that gave a lan- 
guage to tlie world in which was set the words of 
Jesus, the Saviour of the world. Within this belt lies 
Palestine, the land that gave a Christ and his won- 
derful teachings to the darkened souls of men. Here 
lies the Grermany of Luther, and the France of the 
Huguenots, and England, with her mighty sceptre of 
Protestant political power. And witliin this magic belt, 
my hearers, lies our national home. There is some- 
tliing very significant in the fact that, in the provi- 



58 BUSTKEK-HII-L MEMORIAL. 

dence of God, the American Republic was founded in 
just this quarter of the world. Blessed Avith such 
national resources, and crowned with a continental 
position from which has come the world's greatest 
blessings, we seem to have been selected by God for 
the enactment of the last and greatest achievement in 
the history of the world's governments. The problems 
of our civilization to-day are being solved by inspira- 
tions imported from the religion preached at Jacob's 
well in Palestine, and the culture and philosophy 
given to the world from the region of the Grecian 
archipelago. 

Again, the providential direction in the develop- 
ment of our Republic is seen in the readjustment 
of our boundary lines since the time we became a 
nation. British America was England's possession on 
the north. Florida, on the south, was a Spanish pos- 
session; and the great Louisiana tract, on the west, 
was the property of the Spanish king. According 
to these boundaries, if civil difficulties ever should 
arise in the future, our nation would be at the 
mercy of foreign neighbors. The great artery of 
commerce, the Mississippi river, could not be used 
by us. Yet in due time, by a treaty that states- 
manship could not have foreseen, Florida was ceded 
to the United States by Spain, and the great Lou- 
isiana tract, including most of our country west of 
the Mississippi river, was by secret treaty deeded to 
France. At that critical time jSTapoleon was threat- 
ening England Avith his world-conquering policy. 
Bonaparte, fearing that England would take pos- 



A5irNIVERSART SERMOX. 59 



session of Louisiana, and desiring to turn his foreign 
territory into money for war supplies, gave the 
United States of America the privilege of purchasing 
the Louisiana territory for fifteen millions of dollars. 
Consequently Robert R. Livingston, the American 311 n- 
ister at Paris, commenced negotiations, the result of 
which was the purchase of the Louisiana territory. 
This purchase extended our national domain from 
ocean to ocean, and from the lake chain on the 
north to the gulf coast on the south. The signifi- 
cance of this, as a providential contingency in the 
future progress of our nation, must not be overlooked. 
It was not the wisdom of statesmanship that suggested 
the purchase. It was not the result of any far-seeing 
diplomacy. It was the result of a compUcated state 
of European affairs that made it necessary for France 
to sell, and off'ered the privilege of buying to the 
United States of America. 

Bonaparte feared that when it became kno"\\Ti that 
Louisiana was French territory, the overpowering fleet 
of Great Britain would seize and occupy the mouth 
of the Mississippi. To avoid this danger he was will- 
ing to sell ; and our government, already staggering 
under a crushing debt, found courage enough to buy. 

The agreement between the French and the United 
States was scarcely closed before six British men- 
of war were on their way to take possession of the 
territory of Louisiana; but on hearing that it was 
United States territory they returned to British Avaters. 
All that saved us, as a nation, from contact with an 
unmense British Empire on our western border was the 



60 BUNKEE-HILL MEMOEIAL. 

providential opportunity of buying Louisiana. I need 
not state to this audience the difficulties and embar- 
rassments we escajDcd, as a nation, by that act of 
purchase. Suffice it to say, that when the sale was 
completed Bonaparte is said to have exclaimed: "This 
accession of territory strengthens forever the power 
of the United States. I have just given to Eng- 
land a maritime rival that will sooner or later humble 
her pride." 

Again, note the manner in which a Divine Provi- 
dence interposed to strengthen the arm of our nation 
in the dark days of our Civil war. Our country Avas 
lying bleeding and sore by the roadside of nations. 
The union of States was assailed by a haughty slave 
oligarchy, whose buttresses were social caste and mon- 
eyed selfishness. In this hour of our national trial 
the mother-country, and even Prance, who was our 
godmother when we were christened as a nation, 
played the part of the priest and Levite, and passed 
by on the other side. As Charles Sumner said: "At 
a great epoch of history, no less momentous than that 
of the Prench Revolution, or that of the Reformation, 
when civilization was fighting a last battle with 
slavery, England gave her influence, her material re- 
sources, to the wicked cause, and flung a sword into 
the scale with slavery." 

Prance, with her former friendship turned into the 
treason of a Judas, attempted to establish a monarchy 
in Mexico, with the hope that the American Republic 
would be desti'oyed, and she share in the division of 
the loaves and fishes. It was plainly seen that the 



AXXIVKRSARY SERMON". 61 

Union cause had very little sympathy in Europe. As 
Mr. Blaine says : " There was a spirit of arrogance 
manifested towards the United States hy some foreign 
prime ministers which they would not have dared to 
manifest had our country not heen lying Avomided in 
the house of her friends." 

It is worthy of note that just at this time a provi- 
dential communication strengthened the heart of our 
government, and made someAvhat timid the seeming 
hostility of other foreign powers; and, strange as it 
may seem, this Avord of sympathy came from the most 
autocratic government on the globe to-day. " We 
desire above all things the maintenance of the Amer- 
ican Union as one indivisible nation," was the kindly 
and ever-to-be-remembered greeting that came to us 
from the Emperor of Russia. Shortly after this, to 
use the words of Gen. ]S". P. Banks, in the House 
of Representatives, in 18G8 : " In the darkest hour 
of our peril during the rebellion, when we were 
enacting a history which no man yet thoroughh^ com- 
prehends, when France and England Avere contem- 
plating the recognition of the Southern Confederacy, 
the whole world was thrilled by the appearance in 
San Francisco of a fleet of Russian war- vessels; and 
nearly at the same time, Avhether by accident or 
design, a second Russian fleet appeared in the harbor 
of !N"ew York. From that hour France on the one 
hand, and England on the other, receded, and the 
American government regained its position and its 
power." 

With your consent I Avill close this review of the 



62 BUNKER-HILL MEMORIAL. 

providence of God in our national history by refer- 
ence to one scene more in our national life. At a 
critical period in our Civil war the rebel ram knoAvn 
as the " Merrimac " began devastating our naval forces 
Avith tremendous power. This mysterious monster 
became a source of great di^ead to the Union fleet 
around the Lower Chesapeake and Hampton Roads. 
Sometime before her devastations on the Union men- 
of-war, Ca^Dtain John Ericsson presented, before a 
conference of naval officers, his plan of the "Moni- 
tor." They laughed at his idea, and told him that 
he could take it home and worship it without a^o- 
lating any of God's commandments, for it resembled 
" nothing in the heavens above nor in the earth be- 
neath." 

Meanwhile the " Monitor " was being built, — a unique 
iron-clad, destined to revolutionize naval warfare. We 
are all familiar with the disastrous fight between the 
" Merrimac " and the Union fleet, — resulting in Avhat 
seemed to be the annihilation of the Federal fleet. 
Just after the " Merrimac " had finished her destruc- 
tion, a singular-looking craft appeared in the offing. 
It was the Ericsson invention, — the " Monitor." She 
reported for duty, and took her position for battle. 
It was on a Sunday morjiing when the " Merrimac " 
came out to engage the "little cheese-box on a raft," 
as they called it. But the fight resulted in the defeat 
of the " Merrimac " and factory for the " Monitor." 

On that Sabbath ended the most influential naval 
duel that ever occurred, and made the Union navy 
master of all sea engagements. 



'o"o" 



AirarVERSARY SEUMOX. 63 

Under the providence of God, the Phihstine Goliath 
met defeat at the hands of httle David from the 
sheepfolds of Betlilehem. I have not the time, and 
perliaps this is not the place, to draw lessons of duty 
for the present hour. But I "will venture this much: 
that no danger can ever seriously aftect this nation 
if the proper use of our educational facilities are 
applied to political affairs by the rising generation 
as faithfully as they were applied by the fathers who 
launched this great Republic on its great voyage. If 
the patriotic addresses of our annual commencements 
take practical form and character in the lives of the 
men of the future; if the admiration of our students 
for the orations of Demosthenes and Cicero is trans- 
muted into the manhood of the coming citizen, and 
made effective in condemning the political and un- 
scrupulous boss, and ridding both legislature and lobby 
of the viper pest of boodlers; if we could depend 
upon every college diploma as not only a testi- 
monial of a curriculum mastered, but a promissory 
note to discharge the duties of the higher citizen- 
ship; if the Argus-eyed press, with its educated 
editors and reporters, will keep a clear political 
conscience, — these Avill stand as Gibraltar fortresses 
against all dangers that threaten the life of om* 
nation. 

Socialism may threaten, nihilism may plot, and the 
foreign prejudices of emigration may compHcate the 
problem here and there; but once turn the light of 
intelligent American citizenship upon them, and the 
dull, lustreless carbon of these decaying isms will be 



64 SUNKER-HILL MEMOEIAL. 

crystallized into diamonds of beauty worthy of the 
diadem of American liberty. 

Wliat is to be the end ? is the question that every 
thoughtful man asks himself as he faces the great 
problem of American civilization. Can any good come 
out of this chaos of uncongenial elements which com- 
pose our nation ? Can the people assimilate these 
hordes of immigrant men and women, educated and 
ignorant, civilized and barbarous ; or is the govern- 
ment to disappear under the modern Groths and 
Yandals, as years ago proud Rome fell under the 
ancient invaders ? 

Let me quote the words of one who, in the ancient 
manner, was both bard and seer, whose words on all 
subjects are carefully treasured, who looked at the 
present by the clear light of the past. This man has 
made a most beautiful prophecy of the future of 
our country. 

"In that memorable hour," -wi'ote Dean Stanley, not 
long before his death, " memorable in the life of every 
man, memorable as when he sees the first view of the 
pyramids, or of the snow-clad ranges of the Alps, 
— in the hour when for the first time I stood before 
the cataracts of Niagara, I seemed to see a vision of 
the fears and hopes of America. It was midnight; the 
moon was full, and I saw from the suspension bridge 
the ceaseless contortion, confusion, whirl and chaos, 
which burst forth in clouds of foam from the immense 
central chasm which divides the American from the 
British dominion; but as I looked on that ever-chang- 
ino" movement, and listened to that everlasting roar, I 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 65 

saw an emblem of the devouring activity, and cease- 
less, restless, beating whirlpool of existence in the 
United States. But into the moonlight sky there rose 
a cloud of spray twice as high as the falls themselves, 
silent, majestic, immovable. In that silver column, 
glittering in the moonlight, I saw an image of the 
future of the American destiny, of the pillar of light 
which should emerge from the distractions of the 
present, a likeness of the buoyancy and hopefulness 
which characterize the Americans, both as individuals 
and as a nation." 

I have heard of a poor idiot boy on one of the hill 
fanns of IS^ew England, who, — when the curtains of 
evening hung around the form of dying day and 
the stars, one after another, would come out to diadem 
the brow of night, — the ignorant boy would mount 
the ox-cart in the farm-yard, and, with club in hand, 
would strike at the moon and stars, crying with 
each stroke, " Go back, or I will knock you down ! 
Go back, or I ^vill knock you down ! " jS"everthe- 
less, the moon rode serenely through the mighty 
camp of the constellations, and the stars only shone 
the brighter in the sword-belt of Orion as the deeper 
shades of night came on, and the little idiot, ex- 
hausted by liis fruitless efforts, sank into helpless 
slumber. 

So I have imagined with this galaxy of States 
known as the American Republic, rising with a 
continuous unfolding of beauty and strength as one 
after another the harsh voice of threatening danger 
falls into the slumber of oblivion. In spite of all 



66 BimKER-HILL MEMORIAL. 

opposition, we shall flourish in full orbit splendor 
when the feebleness and folly of all opposition shall 
have sunk into the quiet of eternal slumber. 

What splendid progress ! What heroic achievements 
mark the period between the America of Bunker 
Hill and the America in which we live ! 

As a people we stand upon the threshold of a 
mighty future, — a future in which all the events of 
the past have a constructive influence. 

All that this future contains must be the result 
of the creative work done by the men who, more 
than a century ago, deteririined that this vast terri- 
tory should be dominated by a powerful federal 
nation instead of being parcelled out to forty or fifty 
small communities like the States of ancient Greece, 
or the smaller nations of Europe to-day. 

The men who fought and died on Bunker Hill 
in 1775 are as vitally connected with what we are 
and what we are to be, as the men who shouldered 
the musket in 1861 and 1861. The men of 1775 
made j^ossible a federal union ; the men of 1861 made 
impossible forever, may we trust, the dissolution of 
that union. 

Our mission is to make it a grander nation than 
that of which Komulus dreamed, and Jove guided 
to universal empire. We have the religion of Jesus, 
the culture of Greece, the laws of Rome, and the 
language of Shakespeare and Bacon. Before us are 
the limitless latent possibilities of development. 
Great problems confront us ; great destinies await us. 
Here, on these shores, is yet to be enacted the sub- 



. AIOriVERSART SEEMOIf. 67 

limest scenes of free government ever consununated 
in the history of man. Each year makes real, 
grander possibilities : the assimilation of heterogene- 
ous races into a homogeneous people of a great 
Republic. 

The protection of poverty and weakness from the 
avarice and tji'anny of the wealthy and mighty ; the 
extension of our suifrage, either in part or in whole, 
to the mothers and wives of the nation ; the dissemi- 
nation of intelligence, by our public-school system, 
over every square foot of our vast domain, until it 
is a proverb, that in America to be ignorant is to 
be criminal, — all these great possibilities are before 
us. And, fellow-citizens, the outstretching aurora of 
a day of such blessings is already upon us. At no 
period of the past was this nation better than it is 
to-day. The new era is dawning. 



« ' The hours are growing shorter for the millions who are toiling, 
And the homes are growing better for the millions yet to be ; 

The poor shall learn the lesson how that sin and wrong are spoiling 
The fairest and the finest of a grand humanity. 

" It is coming, it is coming ; for men's hearts are growing deeper ; 

They are giving of their millions as they never gave before ; 
They are learning the new gospel : man must be his brother's keeper, 

And right not might shall triumph, and the selfish rule no more." 



I leave this subject with you, my hearers, by 
reference to a vision of the future of America that 
I have somewhere read or heard. 



68 BUNKER-HILL MEMORIAL. 

This union of States under one federal head is 
represented by a great organ, with many banks of 
keys, and having an infinite diversity of stops. 

Columbia one day invited her subjects to an organ 
recital that she would give in honor of them all. 
They assembled, representing all lands and climes. 
The Goddess of Liberty mounted the organ stool 
and opened the concert. She touched the deep 
diapason notes, and there came forth the majestic 
march of the Saxon, and some of her fair-haired 
children kept sturdy time by the beating of their 
feet upon the floor. 

Then she changed the theme, and brought in some 
refining strains of the ISTorman conquests, and in 
the audience some well-formed faces looked up with 
delight. 

Then came sunny themes from Italy, and there 
were tears in a few eyes as they thought of vine- 
yards and cottages over the deep blue sea. 

Then came a solemn sonata from a German com- 
poser, breaking into the martial strain of the "Watch 
on the Rhine," and the sturdy Germans turned to 
look at each other with looks and words of approval. 

Then came the rippling strains of Irish melodies, 
and the enthusiasm of Patrick could stand it no longer, 
and some arose, crying, "Hurrah for the shamrock 
and Erin ! " 

Then Columbia opened the full organ and touched 
the deep pedal keys, and there came forth a strain 
that united every heart, the Avhole audience rising 
and singing to the accompaniment, — 



ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 69 

" My country, 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty, 

Of thee I sing. 
Land where my fathers died ! 
Land of tlie Pilgrim's pride ! 
From every mountain side 

Let freedom ring ! " 

And in the grand chorus not even the hstening' 
angels could discern the national accents in the 
hymn. The lands beyond the sea were forgotten in 
the jubUant outburst of liberty's song. 



ILLUSTRATIVE PAPERS 



PREPARED BY 



WILLIAM H. WHITMORE. 



APPENDIX A. Sketch of the Battle. 

B. AsiERiCANS Killed at Bl'ntver Hill. 

C. English Opijhon of Colonial Troops. 

D. History of the Bunker-Hill Monument. 

E. Webster's Orations at the La^ng of the 

Corner-Stone and at the Dedication of 
THE Monument. 

F. Grandmother's Story ; a Poem by Dr. Oliver 

Wendell Holmes. 

G. Manual of Arms and Army Regulations in 

1776. 

(71) 



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APPENDIX A. 



BATTLE OF BUNKEE HILL. 



The object of this volume being the recognition of the valor of the 
American troops in the battle of June 17th, 1775, it seems impossible 
to avoid some slight sketch of the engagement. The story however 
has been fully told by Frothinghara in his History, and again re- 
peated in Gen. Devens's Oration in 1875 (Bunker Hill Memorial), 
and Dr. Ellis's Oration in 1876 (The Evacuation of Boston), both 
of which were delivered at the request of the City Government of 
Boston, and published at its expense. 

Assuming that the reader will refer to these admirable works for 
the more detailed narration, it will be sufflcieut to state the position 
of affairs in and around Boston in the mouth of June 1775. 

Gov. Thomas Gage arrived at Boston May 13, 1774, and on June 
1st, the Boston Port Bill, the first of the repressive acts of the 
British government against the discontented but not yet rebellious 
colonists, went into effect. In August 1774 Gage received the later 
laws, which provided that the Council should henceforth be appointed 
by the Kiug, and that town-meetings, except the annual ones in 
March and May, and all other public meetings, should be held only 
by permission of the governor. 

The colonists regarded a legislature thus chosen, as entirely 
contrary to their charter rights, and as some new form of government 
•was indispensable, they decided to call a Provincial Congress. Gage 
issued writs for a meeting of the General Court at Salem, Oct. 5th, 
1774, but dissolved it by a proclamation dated Sept. 28th. The 
members elected however met at Salem Oct. 7th, and resolved them- 



/■ 



74 SKETCH OF THE BATTLE. 

selves into the First Provincial Congress. ^ It adjourned the same 
day and met at Concord Oct. 11, where it sat three days and then 
removed to Cambridge. Here its sessions were Oct. 17th to 29th, 
and Nov. 23 to Dec. 10. John Hancock was president of this body. 

The Second Provincial Congress, John Hancock, president, sat at 
Cambridge Feb. 1st to 16th, 1775, and again from March 22 to April 
loth. It met April 22 at Concord and adjourned to "Watertown, 
where it continued till May 29, 1775. 

The Third Continental Congress met at "Watertown May 31st, 
1775, and dissolved July 19, 1775. Joseph Warren was president, 
and after his death, James Warren of Plymouth was chosen. This 
Congress had provided for a resumption of the Provincial govern- 
ment, though no Governor could be recognized, and accordingly the 
Representatives met at Watertown July 19th, 1775, and chose eighteen 
Councillors, thus making a Legislature of two branches. - 

The winter of 1774 had been a period of suspense for both parties. 
Gage began the concentration of troops immediately after his arrival, 
and by the middle of November he had eleven regiments and the 
artillery. The harbor was of course controlled by the British fleet, 
and supplies were freely brought in. In September, Gage sent a little 
expedition to Cambridge, and took away the stock of powder belonging 
to the province. In January, 1775, he sent a detachment to Marshfield, 
to protect the local loyalists. February 26th, 1775, Col. Leslie was 
sent to Salem to seize some guns, and was obliged to return unsatis- 
fied, having escaped, by a prudent compromise, an actual resort to arms. 
Boston, estimated to contain 17,000 inhabitants, was, during this 
season, in a state of suppressed excitement, but had received no mate- 
rial injury. 

On the outside of the town matters were assuming a threatening 

iSee Journals of these Congresses, etc., printed by the State in 1S38, edited by William 
Lincoln. 

^We Bce that the Legislature was thus continuous, except for the period from Oct., 1774, to 
July, 1775. The Laws published by the State uuder the charge of Abner C. Goodell, jr., are 
continuous to 17S0, except for the few months herein noted. The sessions of this new Legisla- 
ture were four as usual, and a regular election being held, a new Legislature met at AVatertown 
May 29, 1776. Boston was evacuated by the British March 17, 1776, but the Legislature did 
not move in from Watertown till November 12, 1776, when the old State House was ready for 
its occupaucy, W. H. W. 



APPEXDIX A. 75 

form, but no distinct plan of action had been evolved. The Charter 
government vras forever broken and lost. The Governor and his newly 
created Council were on one side, the House of Representatives 
no longer able to continue the exact forms and traditions of the past 
century, was in session as a Provincial Congress. Foi-tunately the 
Massachusetts system of town governments was such that little harm 
could result from the dissolution of the central authority. These 
little, self-governed communities had for a century and a half exercised 
aU the powers necessary to presen-e order, and a Congress was needed 
only to provide for the emergencies of war. 

In April 1775, Gen. Gage, whose forces had increased to some 
four thousand men, determined to make an attempt to overawe the 
provincials, as he had a firm belief that a successful display of British 
power would end all attempts at resistance to the plans of King 
George and his obsequious ministers. On the 8th of April, 1775, 
the Provincial Congress resolved to take measures to raise an array, 
and to obtain the assistance of Rhode Island, Connecticut and New 
Hampshire. On the 15th of April it adjourned, leaving tlie work to 
be continued by its Committees of Safety and Supplies. On the night 
of April 18th, a force of 800 men, under Lt.-col. Smith started from 
the foot of Boston Common, under orders to proceed to Concord, to 
seize there the supplies which hail been collected by the provincial 
authorities. 

No American is ignorant of the events of that day. Smith sent 
forward from Cambridge six companies of light infantry, under the 
command of Major Pitcairn, to secure the bridges at Concord. About 
4J or 5 o'clock in the morning, these troops reached Lexington, were 
there confronted by the militia of the town, and after a straggling 
encounter, most probably begun by the regulars, tlie Americans were 
dispersed with the loss of eight killed and ten wounded. Col. Smith, 
with the remainder of the troops, soon joined Pitcairn, and proceeded 
to Concord without further interruption ; arriving there at seven o'clock. 
The ostensible object of the expedition was a failure, as but a small 
portion of the stores could be found, and the damage done was trifling. 
For two hours however, the British troops were employed in this 
farcical manner, while the alarm spread from town to town. Concord's 



7(3 SICETCII OF THE BATTLE. 

troop had prudently drawn out of the town early ; it was joined by 
companies from Carlisle, Chelmsford, Westford, Littleton, and Acton. 
By 10 o'clock, some four hundred Americans were in arms on the west 
side of the river. 

The approaches to the town from the westward were two, the north 
and south roads crossing the river, then joining at the centre of 
Concord and running east to Lexington. Col. Smith remaining at 
the centre, had sent Capt. Parsons with a force to destroy' stores 
at the North Bridge, and Capt. Pole for a similar purpose to the 
South Bridge. The Americans opened fire at last on the troops at 
the North Bridge, and drove them back upon the main body. Two 
Acton men fell, and the British lost one man with several wounded. 
Col. Smith called in his troops, obtained conveyances for his 
wounded, and started on his return to Boston at twelve. From that 
moment the rout began. Troops arrived from all the neighboring 
towns, Reading, Billerica, Lincoln, Woburn and Lexington, and 
an incessant contest raged until Lexington was reached about 2^ 
o'clock. Here the exhausted British troops received a welcome rein- 
forcement of three regiments of infantry, two divisions of marines 
and two field-pieces, under the command of Lord Percy, who had 
been despatched at 9 o'clock from Boston. This force of 1,800 
veterans was able only to fight its way on that bloody afternoon 
through Lexington and West Cambridge to Charlestown, where it was 
safe under the guns of the fleet. The Americans lost 49 killed, 39 
wounded, 5 missing; the British had 73 killed, 174 wounded, and 26 
missing. 

Thus began the war of the Revolution, and the position of affairs 
was changed in a day. The Provincial Congress was now forced to 
assume authority, to create an army, and to prepare for the inevitable 
struggle with the whole power of the British nation. Every town in 
the colony was urged to send forward its quota, and the other New 
England colonies were invited to afford assistance. The plan of 
oro-anization was to raise 13,600 troops in Massachusetts, in regiments 
of ten companies, fifty-nine men to a company ; and j\.rtemas "Ward 
was appointed commander-in-chief. For nearly two months preceding 
the battle of Bunker Hill, the work of collecting troops and munitions 



APPEXDLX; A. 



77 



of war weat on, but in that time order was not fully established. 
"The official returns of the armj', until the arrival of General "Wash- 
ington, are so defective and inaccurate, that it is impossible to ascer- 
tain with precision its numbers." Thus wrote the diligent Frothiug- 
ham in 1851, and though many valuable documents have since been 
secured for the State archives, the record is still imperfect. That 
Massachusetts is still so far behind her sister .states in publishing the 
records of her glorious past, is one of the mysteries of state-craft. 

Frothingham cites a Return of the Army at Cambridge, June 9th, 
1775, as follows: — 



"Whitcomb's reg't, 470 


men. 


Frye's re'gt, 


493 


men 


Brewer ' 


318 




Scaramon 




396 




Nixon ' 


' 224 




Prescott 




456 




Little 


' 400 




Gerrish 




421 




Mansfield ' 


' 345 




'W'oodbridge 




242 




Gridley ' 


' 370 




Ward 




449 




Bridge ' 


' 315 




Gardner 




425 




Doolittle ' 


' 308 




Patterson 




422 






C,U63 










Drummers, 


&c., 


1.581 





7,644 



The New Hampshire troops at Medford, April 26, voted to enlist 
in the Massachusetts service ; but May 20, the New Hampshire Con- 
gress voted to raise 2,000 men and adopt those. Two regiments 
under Colonels John Stark and James Reed were ready before .June 
17th, and were under the orders of Gen. Ward. Connecticut sent 
Gen. Joseph Spencer with one regiment, another under Gen. 
Israel Putnam, and a third under Col. Samuel H. Parsons ; but these 
troops were subject to a Committee of War. Rhode Island sent three 
regiments under Colonels Varnum, Hitchcock and Cliurch, all com- 
manded by Gen. Nathaniel Greene. This latter force also was not 
subject to Gen. Ward, except by voluntary submission. 



78 SICETCU OF THE BATTLE. 

Both sides immediately after the battle of Lexington began to 
fortify their lines. The British had only to close in Boston Neck 
to be secure, smce their navy was sufficient to control the water-front, 
though unable to defend the islands, which were stripped of supplies 
by expeditious from the American side. The American forces were 
ranged around Boston, from Somer^'ille and Cambridge to Dorchester. 
Occasional skirmishes took place, but the British showed no desire 
to sally forth, while the Americans naturally were reluctant to take 
any steps which might lead to the destruction of their much- 
loved capital. At length Gage decided to assume the offensive and 
to occupy Dorchester Heights, now South Boston, on the night of 
June 18th. Information of this plan being received by the Ameri- 
cans, the Committee of Safety, on the loth of June, passed the fol- 
lowing resolve ' : — 

" Whereas, it appears of importance to the safety of this colony, 
that possession of the hill called Bunker's Hill iu Charlestown, be 
securely kept and defended ; and also some one hill or hills on Dorchester 
Neck be likewise secured ; therefore resolved, unanimouslj', that it be 
recommended to the council of war, that the above mentioned Bun- 
ker's Hill be maintained by sufficient forces posted there, and as the 
particular situation of Dorchester neck is unknown to this committee, 
they desire that the council of war take and pursue such steps re- 
specting the same, as to them shall appear to be for the security of 
this colony." 



" On Friday, June ICtL, the commanders of the army, in accord- 
ance with the recommendation of the committee of safet}', took 
measures to fortify Bunker Hill. Orders were issued for Prescott's, 
Frye's and Bridge's regiments, and a fatigue party of 200 Connecti- 
cut troops to parade at 6 o'clock iu the evening with all the intrenching 
tools in the Cambridge camp." "Also, Capt. Samuel Gridley's com- 
pany of artillerj', of 49 men and two field pieces was ordered to 
parade." The Connecticut men were under Capt. Thomas Kuowlton. 

1 Journals of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, edited by Wni. Lincoln, and imblished 
by the State, 1838, p. 569. 



APPENDIX A. 



79 



"The detachment was placed under the command of Col. William 
Prescott, of Pepperell, who had orders in writing from Gen. "Ward, to 
proceed that evening to Bunker Hill, build fortifications to be planned 
bj' Col. Richard Gridley, the chief engineer, and defend them uutU he 
should be relieved." " The number of troops may be fairly estimated 
at 1,200." (Frothingham.) 

About 9 o'clock in the evening the troops started. Col. Prescott 
leading, and at Charlestown Neck they were joined by Gen. Putnam 
and Maj. Brooks. A delay was caused by a discussion upon the order 
to fortify Bunker's Hill, as Breed's Hill to the southward was evidently 
more fit. " Bunker's Hill begins at the isthmus and rises gradually 
for about 300 yards, forming a round, smooth hill, sloping on two 
sides towards the water, and connected by a ridge of ground on the 
south with the heights now known as Breed's Hill." (Frothingham.) 
Bunker Hill was well-known ; Breed's Hill was a name purely local and 
hardly in use. Luckily common sense prevailed over forms, and the 
southern eminence, regardless of its exact name, was fixed upon for the 
works. It was midnight before the engineer had traced the lines of 
the proposed redoubt. " It was a bright starlight night of midsummer, 
when the long hours of the day almost deny an interval to the dark- 
ness, and we expect almost momentarily after twilight in the west to 
behold the gray of morning in the east. There was a remnant of a 
waning moon just before midnight. . . . The narrow space between 
the shores was wider than the distance between these midnight delvers 
and their enemies. At least five armed vessels then floated in the 
middle of the stream . . . These ships were most aptly moored for 
the purposes of the enemy, and it seems almost impossible that the 
sentries could have been wakeful at their posts and not have heard the 
operations of nearly a thousand men upon the HUl and near it." 
(EUis.) Twice during the night Prescott went down to the beach, 
unable to believe in the truth of this marvellous blindness. 

At the first light of the morning of the 17th, however, the entrench- 
ments, already some sis feet high, were seen from the ships, and the 
" Livelj'," of 20 guns, lying where the Navj- Yard is, opened fire. 
Admiral Graves ordered the firing to cease, but it was soon renewed 
from a battery of six guns and howitzers at Copp's HUl, and from the 



80 SKETCH OF THE BATTLE. 

shipping. No interruption to the work was caused, although one man 
was killed.^ 

The English commanders were at first in doubt as to their plan of 
attack. Generals Grant and Clinton, and a majority of the council of 
war, called by Gage, were in favor of embarlviug a force at Boston 
Common, and landing in the rear of the American force, at Charlestown 
Neck. Gage fortunately over-ruled this and decided to attack the re- 
doubt from the front. 

Between 12 and 1 o'clock, a large body of English troops was 
safely landed at Moulton's Point in Charlestown. These were the 
ten oldest companies of grenadiers and light infantry (exclusive of 
two regiments, the 35th and 49th, just arrived), the 5th, 38th, 43d, 
and 52d regiments. After landing, reinforcements were required, and 
the 47th regiment, the first battalion of marines, and several companies 
of grenadiers and light infantry were sent over. 

The American lines were really of slight importance. The redoubt 
occupied the top of Breed's Hill and controlled the two lower roads 
and the town. Here Prescott commanded the Massachusetts troops. 
About GOO feet to the rear, on the side towards the Mystic River, 
Col. Knowlton with the Connecticut troops was posted behind a 
double rail-fence which was filled in with newly cut grass from the 
meadows. Before the battle. Col. Stark arrived with his New 
Hampshire regiment and took most of them with him to the rail- 
fence, which was extended to the river. 

The Massachusetts men in the redoubt were those of the three 
regiments, Prescott's, Bridge's, and Frye's, which had been at work, 
joined just before the battle, by portions of Brewer's, Nixon's, 
AVoodbridge's, Little's, and Doolittle's. The artillery was posted at 
the exposed point between the redoubt and the rail-fence ; and the 
latter line was held by the New Hampshire and Connecticut troops. 

About 3 o'clock the British advance was ordered, their troops 
marching in two wings. The right under Gen. Howe aimed at the 

'This 19 said to have been Asa Pollard of Stlckney's company, Bridge's regiment. Swelt'9 
History seems to be the authority for it. But on the Muster Rolls it is s lid thai Aaron Barr of 
Meryfleld (now Rowe),who was of Nutting's company in Prescott's regiment, was the lirst man 
killed. It seems impossible to reconcile these statements. — W. H. W. 



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p^ pH 



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•?*S 



APPEXBIX A. 81 

American left at the rail-fence. Their left under Gen. Pigot, consisting 
of the 5th, SStli, 43J, 47th, 52d regiments and the marines, attacked the 
redoubt. Xo phrase is more familiar to us than the watch-word of 
Putnam to his msn, " Wait till j'ou see the white of their eyes ! " The 
fire of the Am 'r'can troops, delivered at short range, was so over- 
whelming, that Pigot was forced to order a retreat. The same fate 
attended Howe's attack on the left, where the same tactics were 
pursued by the Americans, with lilve success. 

A second attack and repulse followed, and a second reinforcement 
of some 400 British marines was landed, and Gen. Clinton hast- 
ened over as a volunteer. Charlestown was set on fire, partly by 
shells thrown from Copp's Hill, aad partly by the torches of a party 
of marines from the " Somerset." The British vessels maintained a 
constant fire not only on Breed's Hill, but on Bunker's Hill, where 
some attempts at fortification had been made. Especially, from 
boats in the Charles River cannonading was kept up at the low 
land of Charlestown Neck, preventing the Americans from pushing 
forward reinforcements or supplies of ammunition. 

Howe now massed his troops for a third assault, concentrating 
his attack upon the redoubt. He ordered his men to lay aside their 
knapsacks, to move forward in column, to reserve their fire, to rely 
on the bayonet, and to push the artillery forward. The ammunition 
of the Americans was now well-nigh spent, and after a desperate 
defence Prescott was forced to order a retreat. At this time Warren 
fell, and the loss of the Americans was greater than at anj^ other 
period of the action. Fighting to the last, the American troops 
were forced backward over the crest of Bunker Hill, and were 
joined by their brethren from the rail-fence, whose position had 
likewise become untenable. The whole body retired over the Neck 
while the British about 5 o'clock took possession of the heights. 



I have thus endeavored to give in the briefest form a mere outline 
of the events, preparatory to a more full account of the brave men 
who fell on the American side. The British loss as officially reported 
was 35 officers and 191 soldiers killed, 122 officers and 706 soldiers 
wounded. These belonged to the ArtUlery, to the Marines, and to the 



82 SKETCH OF THE BATTLE. 

following regiments of foot: the 4th, 5th, 10th, 18th, 22nd, 23rd, 35th, 
38th, 43rd, 47th, 52nd, 59th, 63rd, and 65th. 

The American loss is difficult to be ascertained, as so little organiza- 
tion had been secured at that time. Frothingham estimates it at 140 
killed, 271 wounded, and 30 captured. This matter will however be 
discussed in Appendix B. 

In one aspect this battle was entirely unnecessary. Daniel Webster 
has summed up the matter in the shortest form. 

" I suppose it would be difficult, in a military point of view, to 
ascribe to the leaders on either side any just motive for the en- 
gagement which followed. On the one hand, it could not have 
been very important to the Americans to attempt to hem the 
British within the town, by advancing one single post a quarter of 
a mile ; whUe on the other hand, if the British found it essential 
to dislodge the American troops, they had it in their power, at 
no expense of life. By moving up their ships and batteries, they 
could have completely cut off all communication with the main 
land over the neck, and the forces in the redoubt would have 
been reduced to a state of famine in forty-eight hours. 

" But that was not the day for any such considerations, on either 
side. Botli parties were anxious to try the strength of their arms. 
The pride of England would not permit the rebels, as she termed 
them, to defy her to the teeth ; and without for a moment 
calculating the cost, the British general determined to destroy the 
fort immediately. On the other side, Prescott and his gallant 
followers longed and thirsted for a decisive trial of strength and 
of courage. They wished a battle, and wished it at once. And this 
is the true secret of the movements on this hill." 

It has always been felt that the victory remained with the 
Americans, although the British held possession of the hill. As 
a recent writer (see the Appendix to Boston City Document, No. 
73, of 1889) has shown that a contrary idea obtains among a 
small section of our inhabitants, I will again invoke the testimony 
of Webster. 

" The consequences of the battle of Bunker Hill are greater 
than those of any ordinary conflict, although between armies of 



APPEXDIX A. 83 

far greater force, and terminating with more immediate advantage, 
on the one side or the other. It was the first great battle of the 
Revolution ; and not only the first blow, but the blow which deter- 
mined the contest. It did not, indeed, put an end to the war, 
but in the then existing hostile state of feeling, the difficulties 
could only be referred to the arbitration of the sword. And one 
thing is certain : that after the Xew England troops had shown 
themselves able to face and repulse the regulars, it was decided 
that peace could never be established but upon the basis of the 
independence of the colonies. "When the sun of that day went 
down, the event of independence was no longer doubtful. In a 
few days Washington heard of the battle, and he inquired if the 
militia had stood the fire of the regulars. And when told that 
they had not only stood that fire, but reserved their own till the 
enemy was within eight rods, and then poured it in with tre- 
mendous effect, — ' Theu,' exclaimed he, 'the liberties of the 
country are safe. " 



Many years after the battle, a foolish controversy arose as to who 
was the commander of the Americans at the battle. It was a question 
incapable of exact reply, because there was no regular body of forces, 
no thorough military organization, and no general iu supreme control. 
The sober judgment of all recent writers seems to point to the follow- 
ing conclusions : The Massachusetts Committee of Safety ordered Gen. 
Ward to occupy Charlestown. He directed Col. Prescott to perform 
this duty, and the command of the Massachusetts troops, by far the 
most numerous part of the allied forces, was solely in Prescott's 
hands. The redoubt was the centre of the position, the visible object 
of the British attack, and the other fighting both in attack and 
defence, was subsidiary to the possession of this earth-work. Here 
Prescott was supreme, and Gen. Warren, his nominal superior, ex- 
pressly disclaimed any idea of interference. The New Hampshire 
troops seemed to have obeyed Prescott's orders, both in standing with 
him and in occupying the rail-fence. The Connecticut troops probably 



84 



SIvETCH OF THE BATTLE. 



looked more to Gen. Putnam for orders, but that gallant officer seems 
to have displayed less generalship than valor. 

But above all, the American troops were lacking in exact discipline, 
and regimental formations even seemed to have been largely disregarded. 
Many men doubtless rushed forward to the fight vitliout orders, and 
some doubtless straggled away into safety who ought to have remained 
by thek colors. Hence the folly of attempting to measure out the 
exact precedence among the many brave men who gained the first 
decisive victory for the American arms. 

The statue of Prescott stands to-day on Bunker Hill, and no voice 
is raised to object to this recognition of his merit. In the future we 
may hope for similar monuments to other heroes, also deserving of 
our gratitude and respect. 




STATUE OF COL. TRESCOTT, MOmTMEXT GROUXDS. 



APPE^TDix B. 



LIST OF THE AMERICMS KILLED AT 
BUNKER HILL. 



As the object of the memorial described in this volume is to honor 
the soldiers who lost their lives on tlie American side at the battle of 
Bunker Hill, a full statement is given of tlie authority for the list of 
names so commemorated. Prior to the establisliment of a Joint Com- 
mittee of the Boston City Council on this subject, no information 
had been put in print in regard to the names of the soldiers, at 
least in any general and connected form. In some local histories due 
imiiortance had been given to the soldiers of particular towns, but 
such books are not easily obtainable. Frotliingham in his exhaustive 
account of the battle has the names of only one or two privates. 
Most of the officers who fell were well known, but no steps had been 
taken apparently by any parties to prepare a list of the rank and file 
who were killed or mortal!}- wounded on that glorious day. Even 
the exact number of these victims is a matter of doubt, as no official 
report was ever made. July 7, 177.5, the Provincial Congress ordered 
(Journal, p. 4G3), that the Committee of Safety "draw up and 
transmit to Great Britain, a fair and impartial account of the late 
battle at Charlestown as soon as possible." This was promptly done, 
and the following puragraph gives all the details on this point : — 

" The loss of the New England armj- amounted according to an 
exact return, to 145 killed and missing and 304 wounded ; thirty of 
the first were wounded and taken prisoners by the enemy." (Froth- 
ingham, 384.) Undoubtedly this return, whatever it may have been, 
was the basis of the following record in Gen. Ward's orderly book, 

-(85) 



86 



A^IERICAJSrS lOLLED AT BUNICER HILL. 



— the only reference to the battle it contains, — of the loss of the 
Americans. 

" ' June 17. The battle of Charlestown was fought this day. Killed, 
one hundred and lifteen, wounded, three hundred and five, captured, 
thirty. Total, four hundred and fifty.'" (Frothiugham, 192.) 

Frothingham (History, p. 193) has the following table, prepared 
from various sources : — 

American Loss at BuisfKER Hill. 





Regiment. 


Killed. 


"Wounded. 




Regiment. 


Killed. Wounded 


I. 


Prescott . 


. 42 


28 


X. 


Gridley . . 





4 


II. 


Bridge 


. 15 


29 


XI. 


"Ward . . 


1 


6 


III. 


Frye . . 


. 15 


31 


XIL 


Scammans . 





2 


IV. 


Brewer 


7 


11 


XIII. 


Gerrish . 


3 


2 


V. 


Little . . 


7 


23 


XIV. 


Whitcorab . 


5 


8 


VI. 


Gardner . 


6 


7 


XV. 


Stark . . 


15 


45 


VII. 


Nixon . 


3 


10 


XVI. 


Eeed . . 


5 


21 


VIII. 


Woodbridge 


1 


5 


Putnam & Coit's Co. 


11 


26 


IX. 


Doolittle . 


. 


9 


Chester's Co. . . 


4 


4 



Total : killed, 140 ; wounded, 271 ; captured, 30. 



Colonel Swett, in his account of the battle, agrees with these figures, 
except that he makes Bridge's loss in killed 16, and omits Reed's, 5. 
His total is 136. I am inclined to think that the estimate of 140 killed 
is rather high, and that the lists subjoined, including the mortally 
wounded, will cover nearly all of those who fell. 

As will be seen, we have recovered the names of 141 of the rank and 
file, and it must be conceded that this is a most satisfactory approxima- 
tion to the 140 mentioned in the official summary. 

The names given are those found on the muster-roll of the nearest 
date, and are marked thereon, at the time, as being those of men who 
were killed. These rolls are contained in Massachusetts Revolutionary 
Rolls, vol. 56 and vol. 14 in the Secretary's office. They have been 
examined most thoroughly, and it is thought that this source of infor- 
mation is exhausted. The detail of the entries is given later. A 



APPENDIX B. 87 

careful examination was also made of what are called the Coat Eolls of 
the same period. I have also incorporated the facts stated in a contem- 
porary list of the prisoners taken b}' the British, as reprinted in the 
New England Historical and Genealogical Register for April, 1888. 
For the list of New Hampshire soldiers killed, recourse was had to a 
most thorough list prepared by George C. Gilmore, Esq., of Man- 
chester, N.H. The names of the Connecticut men were kindly furnished 
by Col. White of the Adjutant-General's office at Hartford, and the list 
is as complete as could be prepared from the records there. 



The following summai-y of the evidence was submitted by the Com- 
mittee on June 20th. A careful revision of the rolls has revealed no 
errors therein ; but by some error Joseph Hibbard of Dracut, in Frye's 
regiment, is recorded on tlie tablet in the wrong company. He served 
under Capt. Davis, not Capt. Sawyer. 

I have since then received very satisfactory evidence ' that to the list 
should be added 

Lt. Benjamin West of Salem. (Not numbered but put on 
Oflicers' Roll.) 

138. Corp. Philip Fowler of Tewksbury. 

139. Corp. Samuel Hill of Billerica. 

140. Samuel Bailey jr. of Audover. 

141. Darius Stevens of Connecticut. 

^ Lt. Benjamin "West ia said by Felt, (Annals of Salem, p. 520) to have fallen there, ily at- 
tention waa called to the fact by the venerable Caleb Foote of Salem, father of the late Kev. 
Henry W. Foote of Boston. Mr. Foote writes that hia grandmother was the sister of Lieut. 
"West, and that he lived with her from the age of 5 to 12 (ISOS to ISlj) and often heard the story 
from her lips. Mr. Foote also has the portrait of hia great-uncle, painted by himself, in his 
uniform. Such evidence must be conclusive. He belonged to Mansfield's regiment, of whom 
Frothingham says (p. 1S3) that Col. John Mansfield's regiment was ordered to Charlestown, but 
marched to Cobble Hill, to protect the detachment of artillery. Col. M. was tried and cashiered 
for remissness in his duty, but Col. Swett says he waa only guilty of an error arising from 
inexperience. 

As to Darius Stevens, the evidence is to be found in a sermon preached at Stoneham in 1851, 
by Rev. W. C. "Whitcomb, on the death of Rev. Jolin 11. Stevens. Mr. Stevens was born at 
Canterbury, Conn., Sept. 20th, 1766, and died Aug. 9, ISoI, aged So. In tins sermon (p. 31) it 
is said of him, that one of his brothers served with Gen. Washington, and another, named 
Darius, fell at the Battle of Bunlier Hill, aged only 19 years. Here the evidence seems to be 
unquestionable also, but confirmation can be had only from the Connecticut records. 

The evidence as to Corp. Philip Fowler, Corp. Samuel Hill, and Samuel Bailey, jr., is set 
forth, post, pp. 92, 93. 



88 AMERICANS KILLED AT BlTK'ICEIl HILL. 

While I deeply regret that these five names were not received in 
time to put them on tlie Bronze Tablets before the dedication, I do 
not feel that any mistake was made in erecting the monument. Dur- 
ing the present month, by direction of the Committee, these five 
names have been placed on the Tablet wliich records the " Soldiers 
Unassignod," and the names are duly entered in our Index and 
consecutive nnralierings. We maj' yet recover two or three more 
names, but surely it was better to do honor to the 137 men who 
were then known, than to postpone such public recognition indefi- 
nitely in hopes of a well-nigh impossible completeness. The neglect 
of over a centurv has at last been repaired, and if more heroes 
are discovered our successors will extend to them similar recogni- 
tion and honors. 



DETAILED LIST OF MEN KILLED OR MORTALLY 

WOUNDED. 

Officers Killed or Mortally Wounded. 

1. Maj.-Gen. Joseph Warren. 

2. Col. Thomas Gardner. 

3. Lt.-Col. Moses Parker, of Bridge's regiment. 

4. Major William Moore, of Doolittle's regiment. 

5. Major Andrew McClary, of Stark's regiment. 

6. Capt. Isaac Baldwin, of Stark's regiment. 

7. Capt. Benjamin Walker, of Bridge's regiment. 

8. Lieut. Amaziah Fausett, of Prescott's regiment. 

9. Lieut. Joseph Spaulding, of Prescott's regiment. 
10. [Lieut. Benjamin AVest, of Mansfield's regiment.] 

Rank and File. 

I. Prescott's Regiment. 

Prescott's regiment, commanded by Col. William Prescott, claims 
precedence, both for its losses and the prominence of its chief. It was 
raised in Middlesex, but it is uncertain how many of its companies 





■■;. V 



S\^ •' s"!' 



■f^ji 



i'l 







§ 


i 


h 


11 '.ii^ 


■:i;'"i 


3 


!| 


il\ 







^ 



,!<:,^ 



"i 



r 






Uf 

M 




APPEXDIX B. 89 

were in the fight. The adjutant, 'Williani Green, Captains Maxwell 
and Farwell, and Lieutenant Brown, were wounded. Frothingham 
says that Lieutenant Prescott, a nephew of the colonel, and probably 
serving in this regiment, was killed. It is certain, however, that he 
means (ray number, 78) Benjamin Prescott, who was sergeant in Dows' 
company in this regiment. Lieut. Amaziah Fassett, of Groton, was 
mortally wounded, captured, and died in Boston. 

The evidence is very strong' that Lieutenant Joseph Spaulding, of 
Groton, was also killed. Vol. 56, p. 61, of Rolls, has his name, with 
five others, as killed or taken. Vol. 15, p. 55, has a full list of 
Lawrence's company. 1st Lieut. Joseph Spaulding, of Pepperell, is 
entered as enlisted April 30th, 1775, and credited with forty-nine 
days' pay, while most of the others have ninety-eight days' pay. 
This would take him just to June 17th, and confirms the other entry. 

The evidence here given recovers for us the names of thirty-six of 
the rank and file of this regiment killed, or mortally wounded. To 
Aaron Barr, of Meryfleld (? now Rowe), of Capt. Hugh Maxwell's 
company in this regiment, these rolls give the honor of being " the 
first man killed June 17."* 

Captain Dow's and Captain Moor's companies include some New 
Hampshire men who served in this regiment. 

Killed. 

1. Peter 'Whitcomb, Littleton, Capt. Samuel Gilbert. 

2. Benjamin Dole, Littleton, do 

3. John Lawrence, Littleton, do 

4. James "Whitemore, Littleton, do 



Died from Wounds. 

5. Isaac Whitcomb, unknown, do 

6. .Archibald Mcintosh, Brookline, N.H., do 

7. James Coneck, Brookline, N.H., do 

♦ See, however, Bridge's regiment, jwat. 



90 



AjMekicaxs killed at bu^stker hill. 



Killed. 

8. Chambers Corey, • Groton, 

Died from Wounds. 

9. Daniel McGrath, Amherst, 



Capt. Ephraim Corey. 



do 







Killed. 






10. 


John Gibson, 


Fitchburg, 


Capt. Abijah Wyman. 


11. 


Cesar Bason,** 


Westford, 




do 




Died from Wounds. 






12. 


Amos Wheeler, 


unknown, 




do 


13. 


Oliver Stevens, 


Townsend, 

Killed. 




do 


14. 


Nathaniel Parker, 


Pepperell, 


Capt 


;. John Nutting. 


15. 


William Warrin, 


Pepperell, 




do 


16. 


Edmund Peers, 


Pepperell, 




do 


17. 


Wainwright Fisk, 


Pepperell, 




do 


18. 


Ebenezer Laughton, 


Pepperell, 




do 


19. 


Jeremiah Shattuck, 


Pepperell, 




do 


20. 


Jesse Corless, 


Deerfield, 


Capt. 


Hugh Maxwell. 


21. 


Eben Faills, 


Charlemont, 




do 


22. 


Aaron Barr, " first i 


nan killed," Meryfield (Rowe) , do 


23. 


Jonathan Bate, 


Winehendon, 


Capt. 


Samuel Patch. 


24. 


Jonas Looker, 


Sudbury, 




do 


25. 


Joseph Minott, 


Westford, 


Capt. 


Joshua Parker. 


26. 


Jonathan Hadley, 


Westford, 




do 


27. 


Peter Fisk, 


Groton, 




do 


28. 


Jonathan Jenkins, 


Groton, 


Capt. Henry Farwell. 


29. 


James Dodge, 


Groton, 


Capt. 


Asa Lawrence. 


30. 


Stephen Foster, 


Groton, 




do 


31. 


Abraham Blood, 


Groton, 




do 


32. 


Benjamin Wood, 


Groton, 




do 


33. 


Simon Hobart, 


Groton, 




do 


34. 


Eobert Parker, 


Groton, 




do 



•Presumably a colored man, as several were in the fight. 



APPE^^DIX B. 91 

These last-named sis men are entered on Captain Lawrence's roll as 
killed or taken. Dodge and Foster died in captivity in Boston, and the 
evidence is reasonably strong that the other four died. As to Robert 
Parker, he is entered at the corner of Lawrence's Coat Roll ; but Vol. 
56, p. 64, gives Robert Parker, and Robert Parker, jr., in Capt. 
Ephraim Cory's company, and adds that Robert Parker died Sept. 30th, 
at Cambridge. I presume that these two entries on the two rolls mean 
the same man, and that it is a fair inference that the Groton man died 
of wounds received at Bunker Hill. 

Died from Wounds. 

35. John Gordon, Stow. Capt. Asa Lawrence. 

36. David Kemp,* Groton, clo 

II. Buidge's Regiment. 

Commanded by Col. Ebenczer Bridge ; was represented, probably, by 
only a part of its companies. Lieut. -Col. Moses Parker, of Chelms- 
ford, was mortally wounded, captured, and died in Boston, as did also 
Capt. Benjamin Walker, of Chelmsford. 

There is no doubt that Corp. Philip Fowler, of Tewksbury, who vras 
also in "Walker's company, was killed in the fight. 

In Vol. 56, roll 178, it is noted, 



Captain Benjamin "Walker 


of Chelmsford, 


Dead. 


Reuben Beacon 


" Bedford, 


Dead. 


Jacob Crosby 


" Billerica, 


Dead. 


Jacob Frost 


" Boston, 


Prisoner, 


Corp. Philip Fowler 


" Tewksbury, 


Missing. 



In Volume 16, p. 57, is a careful pay-roll made up to August 1, but 
unfortunately defective, many names being missiug at the bottom, 
and undoubtedly among them were those of Beacon and Crosby, 
which are not found on the portion of the list which is intact. 
Frost has 3 mos. 11 days' pay, from April 19th, and we know he was 

■*Kerap died at Boston, ^in captivity, Sept. 10th. 



92 AMERICANS KILLED AT BUNKER HILL. 

a prisoner in Boston and alive Sept. 14th. Philip Fowler has 1 mo. 
23 da}-s from April 19th. The Coat Rolls, Vol. 57, hereinafter cited, 
show that he never was found after the fight. 

I cannot positively affirm that Reuben Beacon and Jacob Crosby also 
fell at Bunker Hill. As I cannot determine the date of their death, 
I deem it most probable, and urge inquiry into these cases. But, 
so far, we have placed no names on the Tablets, except on official 
evidence. 

The Coat Rolls furnish us with another name, that of Samuel Bailey, 
jr., of Andover, certified to by Capt. Charles Furbush, who succeeded 
to the command of Jacob Tyler's company. 

In Capt. Jonathan Stickney's roll, Vol. 56, no. 180, I find at the 
bottom : 



Corp. Samuel Hill ^ 
Asa Pollard 
Benjamin Easty 
Timothy Toothaker 
Jere" Read 
Isaac G'. White 
Joel Walker 
John Wilson 



> Dead. 



Listed in the Train, 24 May. 



There is a duplicate roll in Vol. 16, and the last seven names though 
torn are evidently these. It reads : 



Asa Pollard, 


Billerica, 


enlisted 


May 8, 


served 


1 mo. 


13 days. 




do 
do 


a 
a 


do 22, 

do 8, 






26 " 


ker . . 




d. . . 


do 


i( 


April 25, 


(4 




1 " 


White 


do 




do 






1 " 


.... Walker 


do 




do 






1 " 


. ohn Willson 


do 




do 






1 " 



There is no doubt that the Corp. Samuel Hill who enlisted April 25 
and served 1 mo. 26 days must have died June 20th. Asa Pollard is 
paid to June 21, Benjamin Easty to June 17th ; but Timotliy Toothaker 



APPENDIX B. 



93 



is paid oulv to June 8th, and evidently died in camp before the fight. I 
have no doubt that Corp. Samuel Hill is entitled to the credit of being 
mortalh' wounded on the 17lh, and dying three days later. 
I therefore enter as additional 



138 Corp. Philip Fowler 

139 Corp. Samuel Hill 

140 Samuel Bailey, jr. 



of Tewksbur3-, Capt. Benj. "Walker. 
" Billerica, Capt. Jona. Sticlcney. 

" Anilover, Capt. Jacob Tyler. 



Frothingham (p. 126) says that early on June 17 a private was killed 
by a cannon-ball, and that it was (38) Asa Pollard, of Billerica, of 
Captain Stickney's company in this regiment. Swett's history seems to 
be the authority for this anecdote. See, however, cuite, Aaron Barr, of 
Prescott's regiment, No. 22. 



Our rolls give — 












Killed. 






37. 


Benjamin Eastey, 


Billerica, 


Capt. 


Jona. Stickney. 


38. 


Asa Pollard, 


Billerica, 




do 


39. 


John Thessill, 


Dracut, 


Capt. 


Peter Coburn. 


40. 


Joseph Kemp, 


Dunstable. 


Capt. 


Eben Bancroft. 


41. 


Francis Pool,* 


Gloucester, 


Capt. 


John Rowe. 


42. 


Josiah Brooks, 


Gloucester, 




do 


43. 


"William Parsons, 


Gloucester, 




do 



Note. — Seven men killed in Dow*a company, three killed and two mortally wouDded in Moora'a 
company, nil serving under Prescott, and recorded lu the New Hampshire li«Jl later ou. This makes 
a total of forty-eight killed under Prescott, besides the three olUcers. 

•Babson'e "Hiijtory of Gloucester" states that Pool and Brooks were killed at the rail-fence, and 
Parsons at the redoubt. They are recorded as killed in Rolls vol. 16, p. H. 



9i 



AMERICAIISrS KILLED AT BUNKER HILL. 



in. Frte's Eegiment. 

Col. James Frye's regiment, from Essex, was commissioned May 20. 
Tlie loss as recorded was : — 



44. David Huntington, 

45. John Eaton, 

46. Simeon Pike, 



Killed. 
Amesbury, 
Haverhill, 
Haverhill, 



Capt. John Currier. 
Capt. James Sawyer, 
do 



Died of Wounds. 
47. Joseph Hibbard, Dracut, Capt. John Davis. 



48. Ebenezer Herrick, 



Killed. 
Methuen, 



do 



49. Samuel Russell 

50. Daniel Evens 

51. James Milliken** 

52. John Blyth 

53. Ichabod Mai'cb, 

54. Joseph Simmons, 



Killed. 
(not stated), Capt. Jonas Richardson. 



(not stated) , 


do 


(not stated). 


do 


(not stated) , 


do 


Amesbury, 


Capt. Wm. H. Ballard. 


Boxford, 


Capt. Wm. Perley. 



Died of Wounds. 
55. James Boynton, Boxford, 



do 







KUled. 




56. 


Philip Abbot, 


Andover, 


Capt. Benj. Ames. 


57. 


William Haggitt, 


Andover, 


do 


58. 


Joseph Chandler, 


Andover, 
Died of Wounds. 


do 


59. 


Jesse Holt, 


Andover, 


do 



** Milliken seems to have been of Cambridge. See Coat Rolls, later on. 



APPENDIX B. 



95 



rV. Brewer's Regiment. 

Col. Jonathan Brewer's regiment, from Worcester and Middlesex, 
consisted, June 15, of 397 men. It seems that only about one-half of 
the regiment was in the fight, and they were stationed mostly on the 
diagonal line between the breastworli and rail-fence. The colonel and 
the lieutenant-colonel (William Bucliminster) were both wounded, and 
the regiment evidently made a brilliant record. 



60. Josiah Bacon, 

61. John Ban-ett, 

62. Ebenezer Childs, jr., 



C3. Lucas Green, 



Killed. 

Hutchinson (Barr^) , Capt. John Black. 
Hutchinson (Barr6), do 

Hutchinson (Barrd), do 

Died of Wounds. 

Winchendon, do 







Killed. 




64. 


Comeing Fairbank, 


Framingham, 


Capt. Aaron Haynes. 


65. 


Joshua Haynes, 


Sudbur}', 


do 


66. 


Lebbeus Jennings, 


Deerfield, 
Died of Wounds. 


Cap. Thad. Russell. 


67. 


Jonas Barnard, 


Watertowu, 


Capt. Isaac Gray. 


68. 


Timothy Evins, 


Ware, 


Capt. Jona. Bardwell. 


69. 


Stephen Ayres, 


Belchertown, 


do 



V. Little's Regiment. 

Col. Moses Little's regiment, from Esses, was not commissioned 
till June 26. Three companies were led on by Colonel Little, and 
distinguished themselves. 

Killed. 

Gloucester, Capt. Nath'l Warner. 
Gloucester, do 

Newburyport, Capt. Benj. Perkins. 
Newburyport, do 

Ipswich, Capt. Abraham Dodge. 



70. Daniel Callahan, 

71. Benjamin Smith, 

72. Moses Pigeon, 

73. Samuel Nelson, 

74. Jesse Story, 



96 AMKRTCAXS KILLED AT BUlSTvEK HILL. 



VI. Gardner's Regiment. 

Col. Thomas Gardner's regiment was from Middlesex. He was 
mortally wounded, and died July 3, 1775. Our rolls contain no names 
from this regiment, though Swett makes their loss sis killed aud 
seven wounded. The Chavlestown company especially distinguished 

itself. 

VII. Nixon's Regiment. 

" Col. John Nixon's regiment, from Middlesex and "Worcester, 

was neither full nor commissioned, and both the returns and the 

details of it are very meagre." (Frothingham.) Col. Nixon was 
baiUv wounded, and Swett credits the regiment with 3 killed and 

10 wounded. Our lists have no names from this regiment. 

[But see the preface to this edition. VT. II. "W.] 
VIII. "Woodbridge's Regiment. 

" Col. Benjamin R. "Woodbridge's regiment, of Hampshire, also 
was not commissioned, and there are few details of it, or of its 
officers, in the accounts of the battle." (Frothingham.) Swett 
estimates one killed and five wounded, but none are on our rolls. 

IX. Doolittle's Regiment. 

*' Col. Ephraim Doolittle's regiment was commissioned June 12lh, 
when a return names only seven companies. The colonel and 
lieutenant-colonel were absent on the day of battle, aud Major 
"Willard Moore led on, it is stated, three hundred of its men." 
(Frothingham.) 

Major Moore was mortally wounded and died on the field. Our 
roll give three soldiers also as 

Killed. 

75!^*' Joshua "Whitcomb, Templeton, Capt. Joel Fletcher. 

IgI'M Jeduthan Alexander, Marlboro', Capt. Jona. Holman. 

77^ Benjamin Reed, Rutland, Capt. Adam "Wheeler. 



I 



AITEXDIX B. 97 



X. Gridley's Regiment. 

Col. Richard Gridley commanded tlie artillery, of wtich three com- 
panies were in the fight, though of little service. He was a veteran 
of the French wars, planned the works at Breed's HiU, and was 
wounded in the battle. 



XI. Ward's Regimest. 

Gen. Artemas ^Yard's regiment, from "Worcester, was commissioned 
May 23, 1775. It was not ordered to Charlestown tiU late in the 
day, and only a few companies were engaged.* 

Our lists give as 

Killed. 

78. Samuel Heards, Grafton, Capt. Luke Drury. 



XII. SCAMMANS'S ReGIMEST. 

"James Scammans's regiment, from Maine, did not advance nearer 
the battle than Bunker Hill ; and its colonel was tried for disobedience 
of orders, but acquitted." (Frothingham ) Swett notes two soldiers 
as wounded, but none as killed. 



Xin. Gerrish's Regimext. 

Samuel Gerrish commanded this regiment, but only a part went 
into battle, under command of the adjutant, Christian Febiger. Swett 
credits it with three killed. 

Our Rolls give as 

Killed. 
79. Thomas Doyl, a deserter from the 

King's troops, Capt. Wm. Rogers. 

• Sergt. John Brown of Leicester, and Corp. Kerley TVnrd of Oakham, In Capt. Washburn's 
company are returned as wounded, but ihey evidently lived till August. 



98 AsrEEiCAJsrs iolled at butstker hill. 



XIV. Whitcomb's Regiment. 

Col. Asa Whitcomb's regiment, of "Worcester, had probably two com- 
panies in the battle, and Swett records that five men were killed and 
eight wounded. 

Our Rolls give as 

Killed. 

80. David Robbins, Lancaster, Capt. Andrew Haskell. 

81. Sergt. Robert Phelps, Lancaster, do. 

(died a prisoner). 

Glover's Regiment. 
Under Col. John Glover, our rolls give one man. 

Killed. 

82. Thomas Allen, Marblehead, Capt. Joel Smith. 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE CONTINGENT. 

We have now to consider New Hampshire men. Our rolls give 
from those servina; under Colonel Prescott : — 







Killed. 






83. 


Sergt. Nathan Blood, 


Hollis, 


Capt. 


Reuben Dows. 


84. 


Phineas Nevens, 


Hollis, 




do. 


85. 


Thomas Wheat, jr., 


Hollis, 




do. 


86. 


Peter Poor, 


Hollis, 




do. 




[Caleb Eastman*], 


Hollis, 




do. 


87. 


Isaac Hobart, 


Hollis, 




do. 


88. 


Jacob Boj'nton, 


Hollis, 




do. 


89. 


Sergt. Benj. Prescott,** 


Groton, 


Capt. 


Joseph Moors. 


90. 


Ebenezer Youn'graan, 


Hollis, 




do. 


91. 


Thomas Colbouru, 


Dunstable, 




do. 



• Killed June 19 by the bursting of his gun. ♦* A Massachueetta man. 



APPEXDIX B. 



99 



XV. Stakk's Regiment, N.H. 

Col. John Stark's regiment was large and well filled. The major, 
Andrew McClarj-, was killed on the 17th, after the British had occu- 
pied Bunker Hill. Capt. Isaac Baldwin, of Hillsborough, also fell. 

The New Hampshire records, according to Mr. Gilmore's list 
printed in full, later on, give the following persons as 

Killed. 



92. 


Paul Caldwell,*** 


Londonderry, 


Capt. Scott. 


93. 


William French,*** 


Nelson, 


do. 


94. 


Jonas Howe,*** 


Marlborough, 


do. 


95. 


Joseph Taylor, 


Peterborough, 


do. 


96. 


Thomas Collins, 


Windham, 


Capt. Woodbury. 


97. 


Moses Poor, 




do. 


» 




98. 


Caleb Dalton, 




Capt. Richards. 


> 


99. 


William Mitchell, 


Concord, 


Capt. Abbot. 


100. 


John Manuel, 


Bow, 


Capt. Kinsman. 


101. 


Sergt. Asahel Nims,*** Keene, 


Capt. Stiles. 


102. 


George Shannon, 


Canterbury, 


Capt. G. Hutchins, 



Mortally Wounded. 

103. William McCrillis, Nottingham, 

104. Joseph Broderick, , 



Capt. Dearborn. 
Capt. Moore. 



*** These four men are on the Mass. Coat Rolla as commanded by Col. Paul Dudley Sargent. 



100 



AMERICANS KILLED AT BUNKER HILL. 



XVI. Eeed's Eegiment, N.H. 

This regiment was commanded by Col. James Reed, and consisted, 
June 14, of 486 rank and file. 

Tlie New Hampshire records (Gilmore's list) give as 

Killed. 



105. 


Isaac Adams, 


Eindge, 


Capt. Thomas. 


106. 


George Carlton, 


Eindge, 


do. 


107. 


Jonathan Lovejoy, 


Eindge, 


do. 


108. 


Joseph Blood, 


Mason, 


Capt. Mann. 


109. 


Ebenezer Blood, jr., 


Mason, 


do. 


110. 


David Carleton, 


Lyndeborough, 


Capt. Spaulding 


111. 


John Cole, 


Amherst, 


Capt. Crosby. 


112. 


James Hutchinson, 


Amherst, 


do. 


113. 


John Davis, 


Chesterfield, 


Capt. Hinds. 


114. 


Joseph Farwell, 


Charlestown, 


Capt. Marcy. 


115. 
116. 
117. 


James Patten, 
John Melvin, 
Benjamin Chamberlain 




do. 
do. 
do. 


) 


1 ' » 


118. 


Parker Hills, 


Candia, 


Capt. H. Hutchins, 


119. 


David Scott, 


Peterborough, 


Capt. E. Townes. 



The same records also srive as 







Mortally Wounded. 




120. 


Paul Clogston, 


Nashua, 


Capt. Walker, 


121. 


Asa Cram, 


Wilton, 


do. 


122. 


Jonathan Gray, 


Wilton, 


do. 


123. 


Jason Eussell, 


Nashua, 


do. 


124. 


Oliver Wood, 


Nashua, 


do. 



APPENDIX B. 101 



THE CONNECTICUT TROOPS. 

"The conduct of the Connecticut troops is mentioned in terms of 
high commendation in the private letters and the journals of the 
time. Major Durkee ; Captains Knowlton, Chester, Coit ; Lieutenants 
Dana, Hide, Grosveuor, Webb, Bingham, and Keyes, are especiallj' 
named as deserving of credit." (Frothingham.) Col. AYhite, of the 
Adjutant-Greneral's office, Hartford, has kindly furnished the follow- 
ing list of 

Killed. 

125. Eoger Fox. 

126. William C'heeney. "jAll thi-ee of Ashford, Conn., in 

127. Asahel Lyon. [- Capt. Thomas Knowlton's com- 

128. Benjamin Eoss, (orRuss).J pany. 

129. Samuel Ashbo. 

130. Gershom Smith. 

131. Matthew Cummings. 

132. Daniel Memory. 

133. Wilson Rowlandson. 



SOLDIERS UNASSIGNED. 



134. Amasa Fisk, Pepperell. 

135. William Robinson, 

136. John Dillon, Jersey, Eng. 

137. John Lord. 

Additional List. 

138. Corp. Philip Fowler, See ante, p. 93. 

139. Corp. Samuel Hill, do p. 93. 

140. Samuel Bailey, jr., do p. 93. 

141. Darius Stevens, of Conn., do p. 87. 



102 



AMElU:CATSrS KILLED AT BUNKEK HILL. 



INDEX OF NAMES OF THE SOLDIERS KILLED OR 
MORTALLY WOUNDED, JUNE 17, 1775. 

(The numbers are the continuous ones prefixed to the names.) 



Abbot, PhiUp 56 

Adams, Isaac 105 

Alexander, Jeduthan 76 

Allen, Thomas Sii 

Aslibo, Samuel 129 

Ayres, Stephen 69 

Bacon, Josiah 60 

Bailey, Samuel, jr 140 

Barnard, Jonas 67 

Barr, Aaron 22 

Barrett, John 61 

Bason, Caesar 11 

Bate, Jonathan 23 

Blood, Abraham 31 

Blood, Ebenezer, jr 109 

Blood, Joseph 108 

Blood, Nathan 83 

Blyth, John 52 

Boynton, James 55 

Boynton, Jacob 88 

Broderick, Joseph 104 

Brooks, Josiah 42 

Caldwell, Paul 92 

Callahan, Daniel 70 

Carleton, David 110 

Carlton, George 106 

Chamberlin, Benjamin 117 

Chandler, Joseph 58 

Cheeney , William 126 

Childs, Ebenezer, jr 62 

Clogston, Paul 120 

Colburn, Thomas 91 

Cole, John Ill 

Collins, Thomas 96 

Coneck, James 7 



Corey, Chambers 8 

Corless, Jesse 20 

Cram, Asa 121 

Cummings, Matthew 131 

Davis, John 113 

Dalton, Caleb 98 

Dillon, John 136 



Dodge, James . . 
Dole, Benjamin . 
Doyl, Thomas. . 



Eastey, Benjamin. 

Eaton, John 

Evens, Daniel . . . 
Evins, Timothy. . . 



Faills, Eben 

Fairbank, Coming . 
Farwell, Joseph . . 

Fisk, Amasa 

Fisk, Peter 

Fisk, Walnwrlght . , 
Foster, Stephen . . . 
Fowler, Philip. . . . 
Fox, Roger 



. 29 

2 

. 79 

. 37 
. 45 
. 50 
. 68 

. 21 
. 64 
.114 

134 
. 27 
. 17 
. 30 

138 
.125 



French, AVilham 93 



Gibson, John. . .. 
Gordon, John . . . 
Gray, Jonathan . . 
Green, Lucas 



.. lO 
. 35 
.122 

.. 63 



Hadley , Jonathan 26 

Haggitt, WilUam 57 

Hay nes , Joshua 65 

Ileards, Samuel 78 

Herrick, Ebenezer 48 



APPENDIX B. 



103 



Hibbard, Joseph 47 

Hill, Samuel 139 

Hills, Parker 118 

Hobart, Isaac 87 

Hobart, Simon 33 

Holt, Jesse 59 

Howe, Jonas 94 

Huntington, David 44 

HutcLinson, James 113 

Jenkins, Jonathan 28 

Jennings, Lebbexis 66 

Kemp, David 36 

Kemp, Joseph 40 

Laughton, Ebenezer 18 

Lawrence, John 3 

Looker, Jonas 24 

Lord, John 137 

Lovejoy, Jonathan.. 107 

Lyon, Asahel 127 

McCrillis, "William 103 

McGrath, Daniel 9 

Mcintosh, Archibald . 6 

Manuel, John 100 

March, Ichabod 53 

Melvin, John 116 

Memory, Daniel 132 

Milliken, James 51 

Minott, Joseph 25 

Mitchell, AVUliam 99 

Nelson, Samuel 73 

Nevens, Phineas 84 

Nims, Asahel 101 

Parker, Nathaniel 14 

Parker, Robert 34 

Parsons , William 43 

Patton, James 115 



Peers, Edmund 16 

Phelps, Robert 81 

Pigeon, Moses 73 

Pike, Simeon 46 

Pollard, Asa 38 

Pool, Francis 41 

Poor, Moses 97 

Poor, Peter 86 

Prescott, Benjamin 89 

Reed, Benjamin 77 

Robbins, David 80 

Robinson, William 135 

Ross, Benjamin 128 

Rowlandson, Wilson 1 33 

Russell, Jason 123 

Russell, Samuel 49 

Scott, David 119 

Shannon, George 102 

Shattuck, Jeremiah 19 

Simmons, Joseph 54 

Smith, Benjamin 71 

Smith, Gershom 130 

Stevens, Darius 141 

Stevens, Oliver 13 

Story, Jesse 74 

Taylor, Joseph 95 

Thessill, John 39 

Warrin, William 15 

Wheat, Thomas 85 

Wheeler, Amos 13 

Whitcomb, Isaac 5 

Whitcomb, Joshua 75 

Whitcomb, Peter 1 

AVhitemore, James 4 

Wood, Benjamin 33 

Wood, Oliver 124 

Voungman, Ebenezer 90 



104 AMElilCAXS IvILLED AT BUNXER HILL. 



THE COAT ROLLS. 

Besides the regimental muster rolls, another class of documents has 
thrown light upon the questioa of the soldiers killed at Bunker Hill. 
These papers are known as Coat Rolls, and are in Vol. 57 of the 
Massachusetts Archives. 

July 5th, 1775 (Journal Prov. Congress, p. 456), it was '■'■Resolved, 
that thirteen thousand coats be provided, as soon as may be, and 
one thereof given to each non-commissioned officer and soldier in the 
Massachusetts forces, agreeably' to the resolve of Congress, on the 
23rd day of April last." This resolve {lb. p. 148) was, — "Resolved, 
unanimously, that it is necessary for the defence of the colony, that an 
army of 30,000 men be immediately raised aud established. Resolved, 
That 13,600 men be raised immediately bj' this province." 

The various towns, according to a schedule printed, were to have 
the coats made up, being paid 4 shillings for making, and also for 
the cloth at the rate of 5 shillings 4 pence for cloth J of a yard 
wide. Moreover, the soldiers from each town were to be clothed in 
the coats made in such town so far as possible. 

The result was, that this coat was quite an item in the soldier's 
pay, and was demanded bj' the heirs of those who died. A great 
mass of receipts has fortunately beeu preserved, aud is arranged in 
Vol. 57. Naturally, the series is not complete, especially in regard to 
the orders and receipts for men deceased, but the information con- 
tained is very interesting. This volume has been repeatedly examined 
for the purpose of noting all mention of the soldiers killed at Bunker 
Hill, and it is hoped that no such entry has escaped notice. 

It is from this source that I have obtained a certainty that Corp. 
Philip Fowler and Samuel Bailey, jr., belong upon our list. 

The following abstracts of these certificates show the nature of the 
evidence. I prefix a list of the names, giving to each the number 
by which he is designated iu the preceding pages. 



APPKISTDIX B. 



105 



Soldiers named ix the Coat Rolls. 



IchaboJ Jlarcli 53 

James Millikin 51 

John Eaton 45 

Simeon Pike 46 

Joseph Simmons 54 

Josepli Chandler 58 

Ebenezer Herrick 48 

Joseph Hibberd 47 

Joshua Ilayncs 65 

Jonas Barnard, jr 67 

Josiah Bacon 60 

Jolin Barrett 61 

Ebenezer Chiid, jr 62 

Lucas Green 63 

Jacob Boynton ... 88 

I'hineas Kevens 84 

Isaac Hobart 87 

Nathan Blood 83 

Thomas "Wheat 85 

John Gibson ... 10 

James Bodge , 21) 

Stephen Foster 30 

Abraham Blood 31 

Benjamin Wood 32 



Simon Hobart ; 33 

Robert Parker 34 

Jeremiah Shattuck 19 

Nathaniel Parker 14 

Ebenezer Laugliton 18 

Archibald Mcintosh 6 

Peter Poor 86 

Oliver Stevens 13 

Ca;sar Bason 11 

Ebenezer Youngman 90 

Joseph Minott . . 23 

Amos Wheeler 12 

Benjamin Dole 2 

Isaac Whitcomb 5 

Chambers Corey 8 

Benjamin Smith 71 

Daniel Callahan 70 

Samuel Nelson 73 

Thomas Allen 82 

Philip Fowler 138 

Samuel Bailey, jr 140 

Benjamin Easty 37 

John Thessill 39 

Asahel Nims 101 



Abstract op Certificates, Etc. 

Icliabod March killed in Battle at Charlestown June 17, signed W". 
Hudson Ballard Capt. Also a certificate that the men meutioued in 
this roll belonged to Col. Five's Reg'. 



Cambridge. Januarj' 1, 1775. To the Committee of Supplys at 
Watertown. Gentlemen Please to Pay unto David Vallet the sum of 
twenty-five shillings lawful money in the lieu of a coat which his brother 
James MilUken, has due, killed in Battle at Bunker Hill on the 17"^ of 
June last, belong to my Company in Col. Frye's Reg. Jonas Richardson 
Capt. 



106 AJVIEKICANS KILLED AT BirSTCER HILL. 

Haverhill. March 20, 1776. To the Committee for Clothing. Please 
to pay to Jonathan Webster one pound and five shillings, it being for a 
coat allowed to my son John Eaton as bounty by the province, he 
having never received it ; he being killed in the fight at bunker hill 
signed, John Eaton of Capt James Saw^-ers Company of Col. Frye's 
Reg also a certificate that he was a soldier, and was killed signed John 
Eaton and three selectmen of Haverhill. 



Haverhill. March 1, 1776. To the Committee of Clothing. Please to 
pay to Jonathan Webster Esq. twenty five shillings which was allowed 
in the room of a Bounty Coat to my late husband Simeon Pike killed in 
the fight at Bunker Hill and you will oblige yours to serve Mary Pike 
also certified to by the selectmen of Haverhill. 



Boxford. March 19, 1776, To the Committee of Supplies. Gentle- 
men, AVhereas my late husband Joseph Simmons was a soldier in Capt 
William Perleys Company, in Col. Frye's Comp. and was lost in Battle 
on Bunker Hill on ye 17th June last, Gent, these are to desire you to 
deliver to y" above s* Capt Perley a coat as voted by Congress Jeru- 
sha Simmons. 



Andover. Feb 6, 1776, To the Committee of Clothing. Gentlemen, 
Please to pay Sam' Phillips Jun^ the amount of a Coat, which was 
promised to the soldiers who enlisted after the nineteenth of April, 
1775, that was due Joseph Chandler a private in Capt Ames' Comp. 
Col. Frye's Reg. said Chandler was an indented servant of me, the sub- 
scriber, and was slain in the Battle at Bunker Hill. Jonathan Cum- 
mings Jr. 



Methuen. April 2, 1776, To the Committee of Clothing. Gentlemen, 
this may certify that Ehenezer Ilerdck of Methuen enlisted into my 
company in Col Frye's Reg' and served from tlie 19* of April to the 
17* of June, and then was killed in Battle on Bunker Hill, and was 
entitled to a coat and blanket which he has not had — John Davis 
Capt. 



APPENDIX B. 107 

Methuen. Feb 2"'*, 1776, To the Committee of Supplies this may 
certify that Joseph Hebberd, the son of Joseph of Dracutt, enlistefl into 
my Company in Col James Frye's Reg', and served from the lO"* of 
April till the Battle at Bunker Hill, and was then wounded, of which 

wound he died, and was entitled to a Coat, which he has not rec''. John 
Dewey Capt. 



Camp at Roxbury. March 14, 1776, This may certify that Joshua 
Haynes, sou to Mr. Joshua Haynes, was a solder in my company till the 
17"' of June last, when he was killed in the Battle of that da3". he never 
received a coat as was promised by tliis Colony. Aaron Haynes Capt 



This may certify that Jonas Bariiard Juu\ of Watertown enlisted 
himself agreeable to the Provincial Congress, to serve under me as his 
captain in the Continental Army, and received the post of a sergeant 
and continued in the Service of the United Colonies two months and 
five days, and died without receiving any pay Isaac Grey Capt. 



Hutchinson. Sept 23'''', 1776, This may certify that Jofsiah Bacon, 
John Barrett and Ebenezer ChihJ, Jun'', were soldiers in Capt. John 
Black's Company, in Col, Jon. Brewers Reg', and were slain in the Bat- 
tle on Bunker Hill, on the 17"" Day of June 177.5, John Black Capt. 



Prospect Hill. Jan 1. 1776, This may certify that Lucas Green, a 
soldier in the company lately commanded by Capt John Black in Col. 
Brewers Reg', who has not received a coat or pay for it, and was 
wounded in the action on ye 17 of June and since deceased. John 
Patrick Lieut. 



108 AMERICANS KILLED AT BLHSTKER HILL. 

Hollis. Feb 10, 1776. A certificate that John Boynton, "William 
Nevens, Shubaell Hobart, Enoch Noyes, Amos Eastman, Abigail Wheat 
and Sarah Fisk, are the proper heirs of the money clue to Jacob Boyn- 
ton, Phineas Nevens, Isaac Hobart, Nathan Blood, Caleb Eastman, 
Thomas Wheet and James Fisk, all of Capt. Dows company, and all 
are dead.* Signed by five selectmen of Hollis. 



Fitchburg. April 2S"^, 1776, To the Committee of Clothing for the 
Massachusetts bay Gentlemen this may certify to you that John 
Gibson who was supposed to be killed in the Battle at Bunker 
Hill had his last place of residence at Fitchburg, and belonged 
to Capt Abijab Wyman's Comp. in Col. Prescotts Reg., and 
has not drawn coat, or money in lieu thereof, therefore we desire 
you would pay one of the subscribers, the sum of twentj'-five 
shillings, for the benefit of the heirs signed by three selectmen 
of Fitchburg. 



Cambridge. Oct 30* 1775, To the Committee of Supplies an 
order to deliver to Capt Asa Lawrence, a coat for each of the 
subscribers signed by 35 men, killed, or taken James Dogg, Stephen 
Foster, Abraham Blood BenJ" Wood, Simon Hobarl, Robert Parker. 



Pepperell. Sept 16 1776, "We hereby certify that Jeremiah Shattuck 
that was slain in the Battle of Bunker Hill the 17* of June 1775, 
was y° son of Jeremiah Shattuck Jun"" of Pepperell, and then a 
single man and under 21 years of age, signed by three selectmen 
of Pepperell. 



* Of these seven men, five are on the New Hampshire roll ns killed iit Bunker Hill. But 
Caleb Eastman waB killed June loth by the bursiiiig of bis u'uii, and Janu-s risk is noted on bis 
company list (Roll 63) as having died May 2SHli, at the same date as one Jeremiah Shatlmk, of 
Hollis, not to be confounded with Jeremiah Shattuck, of Pepperell (my 2so. 10) of Iloll 67, 
Capt. Nutting's company. 



APPETSIDIX B. 109 

Pepperell. Oct 4, 1776, Wc bcrebj' certify that Mrs Ruth Parker 
Widow was wife to Nathaniel Parker late of Pepperell who was 
a sergeant iu Capt John Nuttings company in Col. Prescotts Eeg' 
in the army at Cambridge and was slain in the Battle at Charles- 
town on the 17* of June 1775, and therefore has an undisputed 
right to receive what belongs to him she being the heir signed by 
two selectmen of Pepperell. 



Pepperell. Sept 30 1770, To the Gentlemen upon the Committee 
of Clothing sitting at Watertown Ple.ase to pay to Capt. Edm'* 
Bancroft the money for a uniform coat that m_v son was entitled 
to who was a soldier in the j-ear 1775 and lost his life in the 
Battle at Bunker Hill, and you will oblige your hum' serv' Jeremiah 
Shattuck. 



Pepperell. Oct 9 1776, To the Gentlemen Committee of Clothing 

Be pleased to pay to Capt Edm"' Bancroft the money allowed 

for a uniform coat which Ehenezer Laiighton m}' late husband 

deces'' who was slain in the Battle at Bunker Hill was entitled 
signed Abigail Laughton. 



Camp at Cambridge. Nov 30 1775, This may certify that Archi- 
bald Mcintosh, a soldier in my eomp'' iu Col. Prescotts Reg' was 
taken or slain in battle at Bunker Hill, and never rec*^ a coat, 
nor have I drawn an^- pa}' for the same, or for the heirs signed 
Samuel Gilbert Capt. 



Hollis. Feb 10 1776, "We do hereby certify that Capt Reuben Dow 
is the only proper person to receive the Clothing, that is due to Peter 
Poor a transient person who enlisted in his company, and last resided 
in this town and went away in debt said Poor was lost in Bunker Hill 
fight signed by 5 selectmen of Hollis. 



110 AJVIEKICAJS'S KILLED AT BUSTKER HILL. 

Townsend. Nov 14 1775, To the honorable the paymaster general, 
for the Colony of the Massachusetts hay we hereby inform that the 
Widow Margaret Stevens is the proper person, to draw the monej' or 
the coat belonging to Oliver Stevens of Capt Abijah "Wyman's Comp^ in 
Col Prescotts Eeg' who was taken captive at Charlestown fight and is 
since dead signed by 4 selectmen of Townsend. 



Feb. 16 1776, This may certify that Cesor Bason was a soldier in my 
company in Col Prescotts Keg', who was slain in Battle at Bunker Hill 
and has not rec* his coat & blanket as bounty granted him by Congress 
signed Abijah "Wyman Capt. 



Feb. 22, 1776, To the Committee of Clothing in Watertown Gentle- 
men, this may certify M''. Nicholas Youngmau's son Ehen' Voungman, 
was a soldier in Capt Moor Comp'', in Col. Prescotts Eeg'. and was 
killed in the Battle at Bunker Hill and desire you would pay the s'* 
Youngman the monej' or his coat, voted to him by Congi-ess Zach. 
Walker Lieut. 



Pepperell. Oct 6 1776, This certifies that Abigail Laughton Widow 
was wife to Ebenezer Laughton of Pepperell who was slain in the Bat- 
tle at Charlestown June 17"', 1775, then a private in Capt John 
Nutting's Comp'' in Col. Prescotts Eeg'. of the army at Cambridge she 
is therefore the proper person to receive the pay or wages due deceased 
signed by 4 selectmen of Pepperell 



Westford. March 12, 1776, To the Committee of Clothing, This 
certiSes that Joseph Minott was a soldier in my company iu Col. Pres- 
cott's Keg', and was killed in Battle, the 17"' of June last on Bunker 
Hill and did not receive his bounty coat nor money for it Joshua 
Parker Capt. 



APPENDIX B. Ill 

Ashby. Feb 20 1776, This may certify that Amos WJieeler was a 
soldier in ray company, in Col. Prescotts Reg', and was wounded in. 
Battle at Bunker Hill on the 17"" of June and died the 21'' and hath 
not drawn his coat & blanket as bounty granted by Congress Abijah 
Wyman Capt. 

Cambridge. Januarys, 1776, To the Committee of Supplies for cloth- 
ing. This may certify that Benjamin Dole of my company in Col. W"" 
Prescotts Reg' was killed the 17 of June last in the Battle on Bunker 
Hill and has not ree'' any Coat or money in lieu of it Samuel Gilbert 
Capt 

Camp Sewal's Point. March 27, 1776, I the subscriber hereby cer- 
tify tliat I.tanc Whetcomb a soldier in my company in Col. Wm. 
Prescott's Reg*, died of a wound that he received at a battle at 
Charlestown on the seventeenth of June 177.5, it being before there 
was any coats or money for the same received, wliich was due to 
the soldiers in said company and by reason of his being killed I 
have not received coat or money for the s'' "Whetcomb Sam' Gil- 
bert Capt 

This may certify whom it may concern that Ckambres Corey sou to 
Samuel Core}' never received his coat or money for it he was in my 
company and was killed at Bunker Hill Oliver Parker Capt. 



Gloucester. July 8. 1776, This certifies that Benjamin Smith an in- 
dented servant of Capt W" Ellery's was killed in the Battle on Bunker 
Hill and had no estate or relations in this country and said Ellery 
has the sole right to the coat he was to have signed by four select- 
men of Gloucester, also a certificate that he was killed by a cannon 
ball signed b}' "W" Kingman Sergt in Warner's Company, 



Sir Please to pay to JP Sam' Whitemore what is due me, for my 
servant Benj" Smith, who was killed, in Capt Warner's Comp, Col 
Little's Reg', and you will oblige your serv'. William EUer^-. 



112 AMEPJCAXS KILLED AT BUIS^KEK HILL. 

Gloucester. Aug. 27,1776, This certifies th.a.t Dajiiel Callahan, who 
was killed at Buuker Hill Battle, was an indented servant to Mr 
Stephen Low, of this town, who has the sole right to s*^. Callahan's 
wages and an^'thing that belonged to him he was in "Warner's Com- 
pany Col. Little's Reg'. signed by two selectmen of Gloucester. 



Newbiu'vport. June 17, 1776, Please to pay Tristam Dalton Esq 
the bounty of a coat which was due to Sam' Nelson, a soldier in 
Capt Benj" Perkins Comp^ in y" 1 7 Reg' of Foot, commanded by Col. 
Little, who lost his life in the Battle of Bunker Hill 17"' June 1775, 
this will be a full discharge Moses Iloyt administrator. 



Marblehead. August 26, 1776, To the Committee of Clothing Please 
to paj' to Azor Orne Esq'' the bounty for the coat that is due to my 
servant Thomas Allen, who was killed in the fight at Bunker Hill 
June 1775, and there has been no bounty paid for said coat which 
he became entitled to by being a soldier in Capt Joel Smith's Com- 
pany in Col. Glover's Reg', at the time he was killed Mar^' Trefry. 



Tewksburj-. April 12 1770, This may certify that Phillip Foivle}- served 
as a soldier in the late Capt Benjamin Walker's Company in the 27"^ 
Reg' comanded by Col. Eben'' Bridge and the said Phillip was taken or 
killed in the fight at Bunker Hill and has not rec* the coat that was 
due him as stipulated by Congress John Flint Lieut. 



Andover. Aug. 8 1776, To the Hon, the Com' of Clothing Sirs please 
to pay to Joshua Holt the sum due ray late husband Sa7miel Bailey 
Jun"" deceased in lieu of a coat & blanket which he did not receive.' 
Hannah Baile}' admin^. This may certify that the above named Sam' 
Bailey Jun' was a soldier in my company and was killed at Bunker Hill 
Fight and never rec'' a coat or blanket. Charles Fiirbush Capt. 



APPEXDIX B. 113 

Billerica. Nov 9, 1775, These are to signify that Mary Easty hath a 
lawful right to draw the wages of Benj. Easty who was her husband lost 
oil Bunker Hill in the Battle of the 17* of June, by order of the 
selectmen Joshua Abbott (a copy taken from the original). 



Dracut. Nov 14, 1775, We, the subscribers do certify that Mr 
Richard Thissell is the sole right and proprietor of his son John 
TldsselVs wages that was killed at Bunker Hill fight in June last, signed 
b}' two selectmen of Dracut. 



Keene. November 3, 1775, These may certify those concerned that 
David Nims of Keene, we look upon to be the true heir to Asahel Nhns 
estate who was killed at Bunker Hill and was under the Command of 
Capt. Jeremiah Stiles, signed by four selectmen of Keen. 



[See item about John Meads, of Ashby, in the preface to this 
edition. W. H. W.] 



lU 



AMERICAXS KILLED AT BUXlvER HILL. 



RETURNS OF MEN KILLED JUNE 17, 1775. 
From Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls, Vol. 56. 

COL. JAMES FEYE'S REGIMENT. 



|3 



'A 

44. . 

45. . 

46. . 

47. . 

48. . 

49. . 

50. . 

51. . 
53. . 

53. . 

54. . 

55. . 

56. . 

58. . 

57. . 

59. . 



1, 



David Huntington 
John Katon . . , , 
Simeon Pike . . 
Joseph Hibbard 
Ebenczer Herrick 
Samuel Rnssel . 
Daniel Evens . . 
James Millikin . 
John BIyth . . . 
Ichabod March . 
Joseph Simmons 
James Boynton . 
Philip Abbot . . 
Joseph Chandler 
^Villiam Tlaggit . 
Jesse Holt ■ ■ . 



Amesbury .... 

Haverhill 

Haverhill 

Dracut ...... 

Methnen 

Residence not stated. 
Residence not stated. 

Boston 

Residence not stated 

Amesbury 

Bosford ...... 

Bosford 

Andover 

Andover 

Andover 

Andover 



\ " Lost in battle, 17th Jane." 
/ Capt. John Currier. 

^'« Killed IT June." 
\ Capt. James Sawyer. 

("Killed 17 June." 
( Capt. James Sawyer. 

{ '• Died June 20th." 
\ Capt. John Davis- 

\ '* Died June 17th." 
/ Capt. John Davis. 

("Killed June 17th." 
\ Capt. Jonas Richardson. 

( "Killed June 17th.'* 

{ Capt. Jonas Richardson. 

( "Killed June 17th." 

\ Capt. Jonas Richardson. 

( "Killed June 17th." 
f Capt. Jonas Richardson. 

( " Killed in "battle, June 17th." 
\ Capt. William Hudson Ballard. 

" Lost in battle, 17th June." 
Capt. Williaiu Parley. 



"Deceasf>d 28th June." 
Capt. AVilliam Perley. 

" Killed in battle, June 17th." 
CaiJt. Benjamin Ames. 

I " Killed in battle, .Tune 17th." 
• Capt. Benjamin Ames. 

I " Killed in battle. June 17th." 
' Capt. Benjamin Amos. 

\ " Died June 21st." 

I Capt. Benjamin Ames. 



1 James Ingale Is entered on Roll 5 as dying July Sth, but I have no evidence to connect his deatli 
■with tlie battle. Derias Sessions of Andover is on Roll 4, Capt. Farnum, as taken captive 17 June 
at Bunker Hill; but he is reported alive iu Boston in piieon. Sept. 14th. 

In this regiment also I find on Roll 12, iu Capt. Carriel's company, Reuben Stockwell died July 
13lh. On Roll 17, in Capt. Curtis's t-ompany, Stephen GriQith died July olst- No cause of death 
recorded. 



APPEXDIX B. 



115 



COL. JONATHAN BREWER'S REGIMENT.' 



or. 


33. 


oo. . 


36. 


61 . . 


36. 


oa. 


36. 



63 . 



64. . 


37 


65. . 


37 


6G . 


39 



Serg. Jonas Baraard, 
Josiah Bacon . . . 
John Barrett .... 
Ebenezer Childs, Jr. 

Lucas Green . . . . 

ComeingFairbank . 

Joshua Haynea . . , 
Lebbcus Jennings . 



"Watertown . . . 
Ilulchineon (Barr6) 
Hutchinson (Barr^) 
Ilutchineon (Barre) 

Winchendou . . . 
Framlngham . . . 
Sudbnry ..... 
Deerfield 



j " Died June 20th.'» 
( Capt. Jesse Gray. 

\ "Killed 17th June." 
/ Capt. John Black. 

\ "Killed nth June." 
( Capt. John black. 

{ "Killed 17th June." 
J Capt. John Black. 

( " VTas wounded 17th June and died 

j after." 

( Capt. John Black. 

j "Killed IVth June." 
/ Capt. vVaron Uaynee. 

( "Killed 17th June." 
/ Capt. Aaron Haynes. 

{ "Killed 17th June." 
i Capt. Thad. Russell. 



* On Roll 32, in Capt. "Whiting's company, I find that Thomas Draper of Keedbam died August 
10th, and John Stewart of Boston died August 2gth. 



COL. DAVID BREWER'S REGIME^rT.3 



68 . . 50 . 
60 . . 50 . 



Timothy Evins . 
Stephen Ayres . 



Ware . . . , 
Belchertown 



{ "Deceased JunelSth." 
( Capt. Jonathan Bardwell. 

( " Deceased June 18th." 
i Capt. Jonathan Bardwell, 



sin this regiment, in Capt. Bard-well's company, Roll 50, Asa Davis of Belchertown, died July 
26th, and Jonathan Otis of Ware, died August 22nd. Isaac Hodgroan of Brookfield, in Capt. King's 
company, Roll 53, died September 5th. In Capt. Danforth'a company, Roll 55, Elioa Rogers of 
Palmer died September 21st. 



COL. WILLIAM PRESCOTT'S REGniENT. 



88 . 


. . 60 . 


Jonathan Jenkins* . 


Groton 


{ " Died 17th Jnoe at Charlestown." 
( Capt. Henry Farwell. 


34 . 




Robert Parker " . . 




( " Killed or taken 17 June." 








( Capt. Asa Lawrence. 


33 . 


. . 61 . 


Simon Hobart . . . 


Groton 


("Died July 2S." 

i Capt. Asa Lawrence. 


20 . 


. .61. 


James Dodge . . . 


Grotoa 


( " Killed in battle on 17 of June last or 

taken." 
( Capt. Asa Lawrence. 


30 . 


. .61 . 


Stephen Foster . . . 


Groton 


( " Killed in battle on 17 of June last or 

{ taken." 

( Capt. Aea Lawrence. 


31 . 


. .61. 


Abraham Blood . . 


Groton 


("Killed in battle on 17 June last or 

\ taken." 

( Capt. Asa Lawrence. 



116 



AMERICANS KILLED AT BITNKER HILL. 



COL. WILLIAM PRESCOTT'S EEGIilBNT. — Continued. 



1. 

2. 
3. 
4. 
5 . 

e. 

83 . 

84 . 

85 . 
8G . 

sr . 

88 . 
8 . 

9. 

34 . 

80 . 
OO . 
Ol. 
10. 

n. 



. CI . 
61 . 



62. 
62. 
62. 
62. 

62 . 
63. 
63. 
63. 

63 , 
63. 
63. 
63. 
64. 

64, 

61, 

65. 

65, 

65 

66 

66 



Benj. Wood . . . 
Lieut. JosephSpauld- 



lug 



Peter Whitcomb . . 
Benjamin Dole , . . 
John Lawrence . . 
James Whitemore . 
Isaac Whitcombe . . 
Archibald McIntOBh," 
James Coneclc . . . 
Sergt. Nathan Blood, 
Phincbas Nevens . . 
Thomas Wheat . . 

Peter Poor 

Caleb Eastman . . . 
Isaac Hobart .... 
Jacob Boynton . , . 
Chambers Corey . . 

Daniel McGrath'. . 

llobert Parker . . . 
Sergt. Benj. Prescott 
Ebenezer Toungman 
Thomas Colbourn . 
.John Gibson .... 
Cesar Bason .... 



Pepperell 

Pepperell 

Littleton 
Littleton 
Littleton 
Littleton 
Littleton 
Raby . 
Raby . 
Hollis . 
Hollis . 
Hollis . 
Hollis . 
Hollis . 
Hollis . 
Hollis . 
Groton . 

Amherst 

Groton . 

Groton 

Hollis . 

Dunstable 

Fitchburg 

Westford 



■ " Killed in battle on 17 June last or 

taken." 
Capt. Asa Lawrence. 

*' Killed in battle on 17 June last or 

taken." 
Capt. Asa Lawrence. 

j " Killed June 17, 1775." 
( Capt. Samuel Gilbert. 

("Killed June 17, 1775." 
\ Capt. Samuel Gilbert. 

( " Killed June 17, 1775." 
i Capt. Samuel Gilbert. 

) "Killed June 17, 1775." 
i Capt. Samuel Gilbert. 

j "Died June 24, 1775." 
I Capt. Samuel Gilbert. 

j " Died .^utnast 10, 1775." 
j Capt. Samuel Gilbert. 

j "Died July 24, 1775." 
\ Capt. Samuel Gilbert. 

( " Died .lune 17." 
\ Capt. Reuben Dows. 

j " Died June 17." 
t Capt. Reuben Dows. 

("Died June 17." 
I Capt. Reuben Dows. 

1 "Died June 17." 
I Capt. Reuben Dows. 

( " Died June 19." 
I Capt. Reuben Dows. 

( " Died .June 19." 
( Capt. Reuben Dows. 

( " Died June 17." 
/ Capt. Reuben Dows. 

\ " Killed June 17 on Bunker Hill." 
\ Capt. Ephraim Corey. 

( " Taken captive June 17 on Bunker 

! Hill." 

( Capt. Ephraim Corey. 

1 " Died Sept. 30 at Cambridge." 
j Capt. Ephraim Corey. 

I " Killed June 17 at Bunker Hill." 
\ Capt. Joseph Moors. 

j " Killed June 17 nt Bunker Hill." 
( Capt. Joseph Moors. 

\ " Killed June 17, Bunker Hill." 
\ Capt. Joseph Moors. 

( "Died -Tune 17." 

( Capt. Abijah \\'yman. 

( "Died .lune 17." 

I Capt. Abijah Wyman. 



APPENDIX B. 



117 



COL. WILLIAM PRESCOTT'S REGIMENT. — Con<ii!Ke<?. 



13. . 


66. 


Amos Wheeler . . 


Ashby 


S "Died June 21." 

/ Capt, Abijah W'yman. 




13. . 


66. 


Oliver Stevens ^ , . 


Townsend 


( "Captivated June 17." 
) Capt. Abijah W'yman. . 




14. . 


67. 


Nathl. Parker . . . 


Pepperell 


( " Killed -Tune 17." 
t Capt. John Nutting. 




15. . 


67 . 


Wm. Warrin .... 


Pepperell 


( "Killed .Tune 17." 
1 Capt. John Nutting. 




1». . 


67. 


Edmund Peers , . . 


Pepperell 


1 " Killed .Tune 17." 
( Capt. John Nutting. 




17. . 


67 . 


■Walnwright Fisk . . 


Pepperell 


("Killed June 17." 
t Capt. John Nutting. 




lO . . 


67 . 


Jeremiah Shattuck . 


Pepperell 


j "Killed .June 17." 
1 Capt. John Nutting. 




18. . 


67. 


Ebenr. Laughton . 


Pepperell 


( "Killed June 17." 
t Capt. John Nutting. 




ao. . 


68. 


Jesse CorleSB .... 


Deerfield 


j "Dead June 17." 
/ Cupt. Hugh Maxwell. 




81. . 


68. 


Eben Faills 


Charlemont .... 


{ " Dead .Tune 17." 
(Capt. Hugh Maxwell. 




28. . 


68. 


Aaron Barr .... 


Meryfield 


( " Dead June 18." 

j Capt. Hugh Maxwell. 




83. . 


68. 


Jonathan Bate . . . 


Wlnchendon .... 


( " Killed June 17." 
/ Capt. Samuel Patch. 




24. . 


69. 


Jonas Looker . . . 


Sudbury 


J " Killed .June 17." 
1 Capt. Samuel Patch. 




25. . 


70. 


Jonas Minott .... 


Westford 


( " Killed in battle June 17 
t Capt Joshua Parker. 


" 


20. . 


70. 


Jonathan Had ley . . 


Westford 


( " Killed in battle June 17 
i Capt. Joshua Parker. 


" 


87. . 


70. 


Peter Fisk 


Groton 


( " Killed in battle .Tune 17 
( Capt. Joshua I'arker. 


" 




70. 


Lietlt. Amaziah Faa- 
set 


Groton 


( " Taken captive June 17; 
} ton July ye b." 
( Capt. Joshua Parker. 


died at Bo8- 


36. . 


70. 


David Kemp .... 


Groton 


("Taken captive; died 

\ Sept. 10." 

( Capt. Joshua Parker. 


at Boston 


35. . 


70. 


John Gordon , . . 


Stow 


( " Died in carap .Tune 19.' 
} Capt. Joshua Parker. 





* Oliver "Warren of Townscnd, in this company, died AugTiHt 11th. 

^Robert Parker's Dame is not on this roll, but is on the Coat Roll, cited later, with these other 
five men in Lawrence's company, as '* killed or taken." 

Both Mcintosh aud Cont- ck are claimed in the Xew Hampshire list as being resident there. 

'I find that Paniel McGrath was dead in Boston before Septembt-r 14. He is duly entered on 
Capt. Corey's Roll, and on the Coat Roll he and Chambers Corey are crossed off. The John 
McGrath, "Wyman's company, Patterson's regiment, is not elsewhere mentioned, and it is doubtful 
if that regiment was in the fight at all. 

8 Stevens died in captivity. Benjamin Blgelow of the same company was also taken prisoner, 
but was alive in Boston, Sept. 14th. See lisi lat<?r on. 

*Abijah Mason of Wtstfonl, in Parker's company, died in camp July 30. 



118 



AMEKICAXS KILLED AT BTXNTvER HILL, 



COL. MOSES LITTLE'S HEGIMENT. 



70. . 
Tic . 
74. . 

73. . 



82 . 
82. 
83. 

85. 



Daniel Callahan 
Benj. Smith . . 
Jesse Story . . . 
Moses Pigeon ^^ . 



Gloucester . . 
Gloucester . . 
Ipswich . . . 
Newburyport 



j "Killed Junel7.'» 

\ Capt. Nathaniel Warner. 

\ " Killed June 17." 

) Capt. Nathaniel "Warner. 

( '* Deceased June 17." 
t Capt. Abraham Dodge. 

( Deceased June 17 . 

( Capt. Benjamin Perkins. 



*•> Samuel Nelson, of Perkins's company, was killed June 17, according to the Coat RoIIb, which 
COL. JOHN GLOVER'S REGIMENT. 



83 . . 131 . 



Thos. Allen 



Marblehead 



, "Killed in battle." 
' Capt. Joel Smith. 



COL. ASA WHITCOMB'S REGIMENT. 



SO. 



81. 



147. 



David Robbina , 



Serg. Robert Phelps' 



Jeremiah IlasteU . . 



1 "Killed on Bunker Hill June 17." 
I Capt. Andrew Haskell. 

"Wounded and in captivity, June 

17." 
Capt. Andrew Haskell. 

I " Wounded and in captivity." 
( Capt. Andrew Haskell. 



11 Sergt. Phelps died in prison in Boston. Haskell's name is not among the prisoners. Perhaps 
he escaped or was discharged before Sept. 14. 

COL. EPHRAIM DOOLITTLE'S REGIMENT. 



84. 


155. 


rs. 


156. 


T6. 


, 158 . 


77. 


161. 




. 161. 



Phlneas Nevers'^ . 
Joshua Whitcomb . 
Jeduthan Alexander, 
Benjamin Reed . . . 
Maj.WlllardMoor . 



Windsor 
Templeton , 
Marlboro' 
Rutland . , 
Pnxton , , , 



5 "Dead." 

i Capt. Abel Wilder. 

I " Slain June 17." 
I Capt. Joel Fletcher. 

J " Shiin on Bunker Hill June 17." 
( Capt. Jonathan Holman. 

J "Slain June 17." 

/ Capt. Adam Wheeler. 

I " Slain in battle on Bunker Hill June 
IT." 



"Phlneas Nevere's dt-nth is not given, but we know he died In captivity in Boston, before Sept. 
14th. His name is frequently given as Nevens. 

COL. JOHN PATTERSON'S UEGIMENT. 



176. 



JohnMcGrath" . 



Place unknown . 



( " Wounded 17th of June and died 20th 

j Sept." 

( Capt. William Wyraan. 



"Undoubtedly a clerical error for my number 9, Daniel McGrath of Roll 64. Patterson's regiment 
was not in the fight. 



APPENDIX B. 



119 



COL. EBENEZER BRIDGE'S RSaiMENT. 



40 . . 185 . 



Jacob Frost 1* 



Joseph Kemp 



Tewksbury 
Dunstable . 



j " Prisoner." 

' Capt. Benjamin Walker. 

" Killed in the fight at Charlestown, 

June the 17th." 
Capt. Ebenezer Bancroft. 



"Frost was alive in Boston Sept. Uth. This Roll also notes Capt. Benjamin "Walker as deud, 
Reuben Beacon of Bedford " dead," Jacob Crosby of Billerica, '* dead," and corp. Philip Fowler of 
Tewksbury, missing. I think these names belong to the battle, but see ante, p. S5, 

COL. PAUL DUDLEY SARGENT'S REGIMENT. i5 



101 . 


,189. 


03 


.194. 


93 . 


. 194. 


04 . 


.194. 



Sergt. Aeahel Nims, 
Paul Caldwell . , . 
William French . . 
Jonas How 



Xeene 

Londonderry , . 
Peckerfield .... 
New Marlborough 



1 " Died in battle 17 June." 
' Capt. Jeremiah Stiles. 

L " Killed 17th June." 
f Capt. William Scott. 

j " Killed 17th June." 
j Capt. William Scott. 

[ " Killed 17th June." 
I Capt. William Scott. 



i"" These names and also that of Joseph Taylor of Peterborough are all entered on the New Hamp- 

ahlre List. 

COL. JONATHAN WARD'S REGIMENT." 



78 . . 227 . 



Samuel HeardB . . 



Grafton 



I '• Died 17th dny of June In battle." 
' Capt. Luke Drury. 



'"Scrg, John Brown and Corp. Kerhy Ward, of Capt. Washburn's comp:iny (Roll 225), are both 
noted as wounded at BunUer nill, but both survived. 



COL. WILLIAM ROGERS'S REGIMENT. 



70 . . 264 . Thomas Doyl 



deserted from the 
kiug's troops . . . 



i •• Died 17th June." 
I Capt. William Rogers. 



Fi'om Mass. Revolutionary JRoUs^ Vol. 16. 

COL. EBENEZER BRIDGE'S REGIMENT. 



41 
43 

43 



, 11. 
.11 . 
. 11 . 



Francis Pool . . . 
Josiah Brooks . . 
William Parsons . 



Gloucester . 
Gloucester . 
Gloucester 



LCapt. John Rowe. 



120 



AMERICANS KILLED AT BinOvER HILL. 






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122 AJMERTCAJSrS KILLED AT BUlSTvER HELL. 

93 — No. 42. Broderick, Joseph, private, of Captain Daniel Moore's company, 
Stark's regiment, enlisted May 1, and disappeared from the roll June 17, being al- 
lowed on roll pay for one month and eighteen days, but it appears no one ever took 
his money. — State Papers, Vol. 1-t, p. 70. Generally supposed to have been killed. 

104: — No. 43. Patten, James, private, of Captain John Marcy's company, 
Reed's regiment, enlisted May 10 ; allowed on roll pay for one month and eleven 
days. On roll, D'' June 17. 

105 — No. 44. Melvin, John, private, of Captain John Marcy's company, 
Reed's regiment, enlisted May 25 ; allowed on roll pay for twenty-four days. On 
roll, D-» June 17. 

106 — No. 45. Chamberlain, Benjamin, private, of Captain John Marcy's com- 
pany. Reed's regiment, enlisted May 26 ; allowed on roll pay for one month and 
three days; D'^ June 25. —State Papers, Vol. 14, pp. 104, 105, for Nos. 43, 44, 45. 

The last three men are supposed to have been wounded, and to have died, as on 
the same roll Joseph Farwell is marked D'' June 17. 

GEORGE C. GILMORE. 
Manchestek, N.H., Jan. 30, 1889. 



APPEXDtX B. 123 



LIST OF PRISOXERS TAIvEN AT BUNKER HILL. 

(From a revised copy priuted in the Xew England Historical and Genealogical Register for April, 
1888.) 

*Lieut. -Colonel Parker, Chelmsford, dead. 

*Capt. Benjainia Walker, Chelmsford, (died Aug. 15) dead. 

*Lieut. Amaziah Fassett, Groton, dead. 
81 Serg. Robert Phelps, Lancaster, dead. 
84 Phineas Nevers [Nevens],*** Windsor, dead. 
13 Oliver Stevens, Townsend, dead. 
9 Daniel McGrath, dead. 

134 Amasa Fisk, Pepperell, dead. 

6 Archibald Mcintosh, Townsend [Rabj*], dead. 
36 David Kemp, Groton, dead. 

135 William Robinson, unknown, dead. 
128 Benjamin Ross, Ashford, Conn., dead. 

136 John Dillon, Jersey, Eng., dead. 
Unknown, unknown, dead. 

93 William Keneh, Peckerfield, dead. [Error for Wm. French.] 

29 James Dodge, Edinburg, Scot., dead. 

133 William Rolliuson, Connecticut, dead.**** 

137 John Lord, unknown, dead. 
51 James Milliken, Boston, dead. 

30 Stephen Foster, Groton, dead. 



Lieut. William Scott, Peterboro', alive. [Served through the -war.] 

John Perkins, New Rutland, alive. [See Mass. Rolls, vol. 70, p. 123.] 

**Jacob Frost, Tewksbury, alive. [do. do. vol. 56, p. 17S.] 

**Dauiel (Darius) Session, Andover, alive. [See Mass. Rolls, 

vol. 56, p. 4.] 

Jonathan Norton, Newbuiyport, alive. [See Mass. Rolls, vol. 15, 
p. 85. 

Philip Johnson Peck, Boston-Mansfield, alive. 
**Benjamin Bigelow, Peckerfield (Packersfield, N.IL), alive. 

Benjamin WUson, BOIerica, alive. [Died 10 June, 1776. Hist, of 
Billerica.] 

John Deland, Charlestowu, alive. 
Lawrence Sullivan, Wethersfield, alive. 
Twenty dead, ten living, September 14, 1775, as printed in the 
" Essex Gazette." 

* These oflBcerB are all accounted for. 
** These three are also on the ilass. Coat Rolls. 
*** Judge Devens informs ine that the name is Nevcra. 

**** Sec'y Hoadly informs me that this was doubtless Wilson Rowlandson of 2*^ Reg., 9^^ Co. The 
Conaewticut roll says ; '' died, prisoner in Boston, July 1." 



124 AMEPtlCAXS KILLED AT BtTNlfER HILL. 

Having thus given tlie detaUs of the evidence for the names placed 
on the tablets, it may be well to repeat, from City Document No. 73, 
of 1889, the action of the committee iu charge. 

The committee was appointed and couflrmed Feb. 8, 1889. It 
met and organized February 27, and at once proceeded to work. 
March 8, Mr. Whitmore, Record Commissioner, was directed to 
prepare a list and submit it in print, and April 24 he reported. The 
committee deemed it unwise to take any decided action involving 
expense until the annual appropriations were passed. At this last 
date it was voted to have the City Architect (Mr. Bateman) prepare 
a design for the tablets ; April 27, his design was received and ap- 
proved ; May 8, the bids for furnishing the bronze tablets and the 
iron frames were opened and contracts awarded. 

The committee first proposed to place the tablets, reserving, of 
course, the property of the city therein, at the entrance to Monument 
square, opposite to Monument avenue. This idea was made known, 
mformally, to members of the management of the Bunker Hill 
Monument Association, aud at a meeting of the committee, on 
April 24, its chairman was directed to malie a formal application. 
A letter was sent by Alderman Stacey to Hon. F. W. Lincoln, April 
26, and a conference was held on Tuesday, May 14. The delays 
were in no way attributable to your committee. 

The result of this application and conference is shown by the fol- 
lowing communicatiou sent to this committee : — 

Whereas, at a meeting of the Directors of the Association of June 
18, 1849, it was determined by a resolution reported by the Hon. 
Edward Everett, as the sense of the Board — " That the great 
object for which the obelisk was erected on Bunker Hill is monu- 
mental and not historical, and that it is not espedieut that any record 
of names, dates, or events connected with the battle should be in- 
scribed upon it, — " 

Resolced, In view of this, and the fact that the list of names upon 
the intended tablets, of those who fell in the battle, is less perfect 
than, in the opinion of the Directors, it may be made, aud that the 
inscriptions thereon are not wholly satisfactory, ami of tlie further 



APPENDIX B. 125 

fact that one of the tablets is to be used for the vote of the city, 
and the names of the gentlemen comprising its committee, the Direc- 
tors, who were only informed on April 26 of the wish of the City 
Council, are not now prepared to consent to the erection of the pro- 
posed tablets on the grounds of the Association. 

Resolved, That if the preparation and erection of the tablets can 
be postponed until after June 17, the Directors will most wLUingly 
bring the whole subject to the consideration of the Association at its 
annual meeting on that day. 

A true copy of the Eesolves adopted at a meeting of the Directors 
of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, May 18, 1889. 

Attest : 

ANDREW" C. FEARING, Jr., 

Secretary. 

Various attempts were made by the committee to come to some 
agreement with the Association, it being then supposed that this 
society had tlie ^^rtual ownership of the monument and grounds. 
Nothing was obtained, not even leave to place the tablets against 
the outside fence surrounding the grounds. 

The committee was therefore forced to seek another site, and its 
choice fell upon the well-known locality of "Winthrop square, that 
being, in fact, a portion of Bunker Hill, and already adorned with 
the monument erected to the memory of the soldiers from Charlestown 
in the late war. In making this choice the committee followed the old 
rule of placing a city memorial upon laud owned by the city, and 
the wisdom of this rule has been abundantly shown by the experience 
already related. 

The committee, having been duly empowered, accordingly arranged 
to place these tablets at a new entrance made into Winthrop square, 
at its north-west corner. A smaller entrance has also been made at 
the south-east corner, and the paths have been re-located, so as to 
afford the most direct line of travel from City square to Hammor^d 
square. 



126 AMEPJCAXS KILLED AT BUXKER HILL. 

The accompanying illustrations give a satisfactory idea of these 
tablets aud their surroundings. The inscriptions upon them arc 
repeated in the text, but the illustration facing page 133 is from 
a recent photograph aud represents the present state of the tablet. 
In the first edition the reader was cautioned that the views were 
talven in August, and consequently the tablet which bore the names 
of "Soldiers unassigned " was represented as it then appeared, but 
the five names since recovered were properly entered in the printed 
page. 

For this second edition new photographs and heliotypes have 
been made of the two general views, facing the title and page 11 
respectively ; and these, of course, give the winter aspect of these 
monuments. 




BRONZE TABLETS FACING WINTHROP SQUARE. 



THE MELIOTYPE PRINTING CO.. BOSTON 



PRESCOTT'S REGIMENT. 



Parker's company. 

JOSEPH MINOTT, , Westford 

JONATHAN HADLEY, i ^veitToru. 

PETER FISK, 

DAVID KEMP, 

JOHN GORDON, Stow. 



, [ Groton. 



Groton. 



Patch's company. 

JONATHAN BATE, Winchendon. 

JONAS LOOKER, Sudbury. 

Lawrence's company. 

JAMES DODGE, 
STEPHEN FOSTER, 
ABRAHAM BLOOD, 
BENJAMIN WOOD, 
SIMON HOBART, 
ROBERT PARKER, 

FarwelVs company. 
JONATHAN JENKINS, Groton. 

Doiv^s company. 

SERGT. NATHAN BLOOD, ^ 
PHINEAS NEVERS, 
THOMAS WHEAT, JR. 
PETER POOR, 
ISAAC HOBART, 
JACOB BOYNTON, 



Holiis, N.H. 



Moors'' company. 

SERGT. BENJ. PRESCOTT, Groton. 
EBENEZER YOUNGMAN, HoIlis, N.H. 
THOMAS COLBOURN, Dunstable. 



mn 



PRESCOTT'S REGIMENT, Continued. 



Gilherfs company. 

PETER WHITCOMB, 

BENJAMIN DOLE, 

JOHN LAWRENCE, } Littleton. 

JAMES WHITEMORE, 

ISAAC WHITCOMB, . 

ARCHIBALD MclNTOSH, | Brook- 

JAMES CONECK, i line, N.H. 

Coi^ey^s company. 

CHAMBERS COREY, Groton. 

DANIEL McGRATH, Amherst. 

JVyman''s company. 

OLIVER STEVENS, Townsend. 

JOHN GIBSON, Fitchburg. 

CAESAR BASON, Westford. 

AMOS WHEELER, Ashby. 

Nutting^s company. 

NATHANIEL PARKER, 
WILLIAM WARRIN, 
EDMUND PEERS, 
WAINWRIGHT FISK, 
EBENEZER LAUGHTON, 
JEREMIAH SHATTUCK, 



'Pepperell. 



MaxLvelVs company. 

JESSE CORLESS, Deerfield. 

EBENEZER FAILLS, Charlemont. 

AARON BARR, Meryfield. 

(128) 



/I* 




WJ-jru-oc/'jutiizTs ki^.-viix" 






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BRONZE TABLETS FACING WINTHROP SQUARE. 



THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON 



BRIDGE'S REGIMENT. 

Sticknei/s company. 

BENJAMIN EASTEYJ Billerica. 

ASA POLLARD, 3 

CdburiiJs company. 

JOHN THESSILL, Dracut. 

Bancroffs company. 

JOSEPH KEMP, Dunstable. 

Rowe's company. 

FRANCIS POOL, ") 

JOSIAH BROOKS, \ Gloucester. 

WILLIAM PARSONS, 3 



DOOLITTLE'S REGIMENT. 
Fletcher''s comjmny. 
JOSHUA WHITCOMB, Templeton. 

Ilolman's comp>any. 
JEDUTHAN ALEXANDER, Marlborough. 

Wheelei's company. 
BENJAMIN REED, Rutland. 



GERRISH'S REGIMENT. 
Hogers' company. 
THOMAS DOYL, 



WHITCOMB'S REGIMENT. 

IlashelVs company. 

SERGT. ROBERT PHELPS,] , ;,nra«?tPr 
DAVID ROBBINS, I ^^"c^ster. 



GLOVER'S REGIMENT. 

SmWi's company. 
THOMAS ALLEN, Marblehead. 

(129) 



BREWER'S REGIMENT. 



BlacIvS company. 

JOSIAH BACON, ] 

JOHN BARRETT, ^Hutchinson. 

EBENEZER CHILDS, JR., J 

LUCAS GREEN, Winchendon. 

Haynes company. 

COMEING FAIRBANK, Framingham. 

JOSHUA HAYNES, Sudbury. 

RusselVs company. 
LEBBEUS JENNINGS, Deerfield. 

Grays company. 
JONAS BARNARD, Watertown. 

BardioelVs company. 

TIMOTHY EVINS, Ware. 

STEPHEN AYRES, Belchertown. 



LITTLE'S REGIMENT. 



TVarner^s company. 

DANIEL CALLAHAN,} 

BENJAMIN SMITH, I Gloucester. 

Dodgers company. 
JESSE STORY, Ipswich. 



Perlcins' compaiiy. 

MOSES PIGEON, i k, t. 

SAMUEL NELSON,) Newburyport. 



(130) 




BRONZE TABLETS FACING ADAMS STREET. 



THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO.. BOSTON 



NEW HAMPSHIRE TROOPS. 



REED'S REGIMENT. 



Thomas' company. 

ISAAC ADAMS, ^ 

GEORGE CARLTON, f Rindge. 
JONATHAN LOVEJOY, ) 

Mannas company. 

JOSEPH BLOOD, | j^ 
EBENEZER BLOOD, JR., i '^'^''""• 

S'paulding' s company. 
DAVID CARLETON, Lyndeborough. 

Crosby^s company. 

JOHN COLE, 

JAMES HUTCHINSON 



[ Amherst. 



Hinds' company. 
JOHN DAVIS, Chesterfield. 

Marcy''s company. 

JOSEPH FARWELL, Charlestown. 

JAMES PATTEN, 

JOHN MELVIN, 

BENJAMIN CHAMBERLAIN, 

Hutcliin^s company. 
PARKER HILLS, Candia. 

Towne's company. 
DAVID SCOTT, Peterborough. 

Walkers company. 

PAUL CLOGSTON, Nashua. 

ASA CRAM, I ^i,^ 

JONATHAN GRAY,) vviiLon. 
JASON RUSSELL, 



OLIVER WOOD ' Nashua 



(131) 



NEW HAMPSHIRE TROOPS. 



STARK'S REGIMENT. 



Scott's company. 

PAUL CALDWELL, Londonderry. 

WILLIAM FRENCH, Nelson. 

JONAS HOWE, Marlborough. 

JOSEPH TAYLOR, Peterborough. 

'Woodbmn/s company. 

THOMAS COLLINS, Windham. 
MOSES POOR, 

Richards' company. 
CALEB DALTON, 



Aihofs company. 
WILLIAM MITCHELL, Concord. 

kinsman's company. 
JOHN MANUEL, Bow. 

Stiles' company. 
SERGT. ASAHEL NIMS, Keene. 

Hutcliins'' company. 
GEORGE SHANNON, Canterbury. 

Dearhoiiv's company. 
WILLIAM McCRILLIS, Nottingham. 

Moore's company. 
JOSEPH BRODERICK, 



(132) 




I 




*^ 5 







BRONZE TABLETS FACING ADAMS STREET. 



THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO.. BOSTON 



CONNECTICUT TROOPS. 



ROGER FOX, 
ASAHEL LYON, 
SAMUEL ASHBO, 



WILLIAM CHEENEY, 
BENJAMIN ROSS, 
CERSHOM SMITH, 



MATTHEW CUMMINGS, DANIEL MEMORY. 
WILSON ROWLANDSON, 



SOLDIERS UNASSIGNED. 



AMASA FISK, 
WILLIAM ROBINSON, 
JOHN DILLON, 
JOHN LORD, 



Pepperell. 



Jersey, Eng. 



CORP. PHILIP FOWLER, 


Tewksbury. 


CORP. SAMUEL HILL, 


Billerica. 


SAMUEL BAILEY, JR., 


Andover. 


DARIUS STEVENS, 


Connecticut. 


JOHN MEADS, 


Ashby. 



HRSl 



FRYE'S REGIMENT. 



Curi'ier\s company. 
DAVID HUNTINGTON, Amesbury. 

Sawyer'' s company. 

JOHN EATON, ] „ . ... 

SIMEON PIKE, I Haverhill. 

JOSEPH HIBBARD, Dracut. 

H'lcliardsonJ s company. 

SAMUEL RUSSELL, 1 

DANIEL EVENS, \ 

JAMES MILLIKEN, | 
JOHN BLYTH, J 

Ballard's company. 
ICHABOD MARCH, Amesbury. 

Perley's company. 

JOSEPH SIMMONS,) o^^f^^^ 

JAMES BOYNTON, I Boxford. 

Am.es'. company. 
PHILIP ABBOT, ^ 

WILLIAM HAGGITT, Andover. 

JOSEPH CHANDLER, 
JESSE HOLT, J 

Davis' company. 
EBENEZER HERRICK, Methuen. 



WARD'S REGIMENT. 



Drury's company. 
SAMUEL HEARDS, Grafton. 



(134) 





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M.U- SiIc)\VIX(t Till-; AMKltlCAX I.IXICS, 1775. 



APPENDIX C. 



For some mysterious reason, the popular view in England just prior 
to the Revolution was, that the Colonists could not face regular troops. 
That such an idea was absurd was evident, indeed, to those who remem- 
bered the part taken only a few years before by the Colonial contingent 
in the French Wars. In fact, for a century New England had been 
harassed with incessant wars, and the inhabitants were especially famil- 
iar with the use of arms. Although at the beginning the Massachu- 
setts colony was not forced to obtain land by conquest, a very 
considerable number of Indians inhabited this colony and Connecticut, 
while to the northward and eastward the savages were a constant 
menace. 

In 1636, the Pequots in Connecticut broke out in open hostilities, and 
Captain Mason destroyed their stronghold near Stonington. The 
burden of the campaign fell upon Connecticut ; but Massachusetts 
levied 160 men, and Plymouth 40 men, who took part in the pursuit 
and ultimate dispersion of the tribe. 

The militia was soon placed on a thorough system in aU the colonies. 
All males between the ages of sixteen and sixty were liable to military 
duty, and were equipped as infantry, with match-locks, pikes, and 
swords. In every town where there were sixty-four soldiers they were 
to constitute a company, and the officers were chosen by vote of the 
freemen, householders, and soldiers who had taken the oath of fidelity, 
subject to the approval of the County Court. The pikemen were to be 
armed " with a good pike well-headed, corslet, head-piece, sword, and 
snapsaek ; the musqueteers with a good fixed musquet, not under 
bastard-musquet bore, nor under three foot nine inches in length, nor 
above four foot three inches long, with a priming wire, worm, scourer, 
and mould, fitted to the bore of his musquet ; also with a good sword, 
rest, bandaleres, one pound of powder, twenty bullets, and two fathoms 
of match." (Colonial Laws, 1660.) 

The excexjtions were few ; only clergymen, teachers, physicians, dea- 



l-tO EA^GLISH OPEsnOX OF COLONIAL TKOOPS. 

cons, captains of vessels, fisliermen and herdsmen constantly employed, 
a few high officers, and the students and faculty at Harvard. 

In 1656 we had three regiments of militia, Suffolk, Middlesex, and 
Esses ; in 1671 three more were formed, Norfolk or Piscataqua, York- 
shire or Maine, and Hampshire. (Douglas, iii. 530.) In 1660 the militia 
consisted of about 4,000 foot and 400 horse. (Hutchinson, i. 244.) 

Although for forty years from the Pequot war to King Philip's -war, 
there was no open and recognized warfare, still the relations of England 
to Holland and France on several occasions threatened to embroil their 
respective colonies. It was necessary for the English colonies to be 
constantly prepared, and in several instances troops were voted, and 
perhaps collected, for expeditions against the New Netherlands or 
Canada. 

After the Restoration of Charles II., the home authorities steadily 
endeavored to curtail the rights or privileges of the colonists, and to 
centralize the government. Accordingly, in 1668, a law was passed 
respecting the militia, that " for the time to come where new [officers] 
are to be chosen, it is only in the power of the General Court, or in case 
of emergency for the Council of the Commonwealth, to nominate, 
choose, appoint, and empower all commission military officers, except 
the Major-General and Admiral by Sea, the choice of whom are other- 
wise provided for by law ; and for all inferior officers in companies, 
they are to be chosen and appointed by the commission officers of that 
company, and where no commission ofBeer is, by the Major of the regi- 
ment." (Col. Laws, 1672.) 

The horse-troopers, seventy of whom made a troop, were changed into 
a more select body in 1663, as it was enacted " that henceforth none 
shall be admitted to be a listed trooper, but such whom themselves or 
parents under whose government they are, do pay in a single country 
rate for one hundred pounds estate, and in other respects qualified as 
the law provides." (Col. Laws, 1672.) 

In 1675 and 1676 the great Indian War took place, which resulted in 
the total extinction of the power of the aborigines in the southerly 
colonies of New England. During that time Massachusetts was a 
military camp, with every available man under arms. The result 
is thus summed up by Palfrey, iii. 215. 



APPEXDLS C. 141 

"In Plymouth aud Massachusetts there were eighty or ninety towns. 
Of these, ten or twelve were wholly destroyed, and forty others were more 
or less damaged by fire, making two-thirds of the whole number. Five or 
six hundred of the men of military age, one in every ten or twelve of 
the whole, were stealthily murdered, or fell in battle, or, becoming pris- 
oners, were lost sight of forever, an unknown number of them being put 
to death with horrible tortures. ... At the termination of hostil- 
ities the debt which had been incurred by that Colony is believed to 
have exceeded the value of the whole personal property of its people." 
In 1G76, a rate of taxes was about £2,000. Sixteen rates were levied 
in this year amounting to nearly seven per cent, of the valuation. 
{Ibid., iii. 230.) 

Under Gov. Audros the military spirit was kept alive by a campaign 
against the Indians in Maine. When the colonists in 1689 rose in 
rebellion against King James, on the merest hope that "SYilliain of 
Orange had succeeded, we are told that the force which captured Audros 
and his red-coats consisted of twenty companies collected in Boston, 
besides several hundred soldiers in Charlestown. 

In 1690, war being waged between England aud France, Massachu- 
setts troops under Sir William Phips captured Port Koyal (Annapolis) 
in Nova Scotia, and attempted the capture of Quebec. Thirty-two ves- 
sels, the largest mounting fortj--four guns, convej'ed 2,000 men ; but the 
enterprise failed. 

In 1703 hostilities with the Indians, who were incited thereto by the 
French, again began aud kept the colou}^ in constant alarm for some 
ten years. In 1711, Admiral AValker arrived at Boston with fifteen 
men-of-war and forty transports conveying more than .5,000 troops 
destined for another attack on Quebec. A levy of 900 men was ordered 
here. Owing to the lack of pilots the expedition failed disgracefully', 
many of the vessels being wrecked in the lower St. Lawrence, with great 
loss of life. 

The Treaty of Utrecht in 1712 put an end to this war, in which " it 
was estimated that the eastern tribes had lost one-thu-d of the whole 
number of their warriors dming the past ten years and an equal number 
of women and children, and that the proportion of lives sacrificed had 
been little, if at all, less among the English population of Maine." 
(Palfrey, iv. 287.) 



142 ENGLISH OPtN'ION' OP COLONIAL TKOOPS. 

After some twenty-five years of peace, war against Spain was pro- 
claimed by Eoglaud in 1739. A requisition was made on Massachusetts 
for 1,000 men to serve iu the expedition under Admiral Vernon against 
Carthagena. Of the five hundred troops who actually went, only fifty 
returned. 

In March, 1744, the long-expected declaration of war was made 
by France, and Gov. Shirley, whose tastes were entirely military, 
promptly took measures to attack the French colonies. In 1745 Louis- 
burg was taken by an expedition under the command of "William Pep- 
perrell, composed of 3,250 Massachusetts men, exclusive of officers, 304 
New Hampshire troops, and 516 Connecticut troops. Commodore War- 
ren assisted with a small fleet, but the main work and credit belonged to 
the colonists. 

In April, 1748, the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed, by which 
Cape Breton was restored to the French. 

Douglas's Summary, i. 533, gives the rates of pay in 1748 as fol- 
lows — in old tenor, then so depreciated as to be worth only one-tenth 
to one-eleventh of sterling money. Captains £18 per month ; lieutenants 
£12 ; sergeant £6-8 ; chaplain £24 ; ceutinels £5 ; gunners £8. Boun- 
ties to privates £4, one month's advance wages, a blanket, and 30 shil- 
lings per week subsistence. The provisions were one pound of bread, 
a half pint of pease, and two-thirds of a pound of pork daily, one gallon 
of molasses for 42 days. Marching allowances, one pound of bread, 
one pound of pork, and one gill of rum. 

He adds " the Alacrity of the New England Militia may be observed, 
by the Alarm from_ d'AnviUe's Brest French Squadron, end of Septem- 
ber, 1746 ; in a very short time 6400 men from the Country, well 
armed, appeared in Boston Common, some of them {v.g. from Brook- 
field) travelled 70 Miles in two Days, each with a Pack (in which was 
Provision for 14 Days) of about a Bushel Corn weight." 

In 1755 the colonists fitted out four expeditions against the French 
settlements, although war had not been formally declared. In three of 
these Massachusetts took part. Col. Moukton raised 2,000 men to 
go to Nova Scotia ; for the Crown Point expedition, Massachusetts 
voted 1,200 men. New Hampshire 600, Rhode Island 400, Connect- 
icut 1,0U0, and New York 800. This army under Gen. Johnson won 



APPE>n)ix c. 143 

-a victory over the French imder Dieskau at Lake George. Brail- 
dock's expeditiou was a terrible failure, and the colonial troops saved 
the retreat. 

After two or three years of desultorj' fighting in ■which the French 
had the advantage, in 1758 Massachusetts voted 7,000 men to be 
joined to the regulars under Gen. Abercrombie to go to Lake George. 
4, .500 men were volunteers and 2, .500 were drafted from the militia; 
the other colonies raised between 2,000 and 3,000 soldiers. This army 
met with a disgraceful repulse at Ticouderoga and fell b.ack to Albany. 
Louisburg was however again captured this year by the fleet under 
Admiral Boscawen and the troops under Gen. Amherst. 

In 1759 Massachusetts voted 5,000 men, and nearly 1,500 were 
added by voluntary enlistment. Gen. Amherst captured Ticon- 
deroga and Crown Point ; Johnson took Niagara, while Wolfe made 
himself immortal by the capture of Quebec. 

Hutchinson writes (iii. 78), "The Massachusetts forces this j'ear 
were of great service. Twenty-five hundred sei-ved in garrison at 
Louisburg and Nova Scotia, in the room of the regular troops taken 
from thence to ser\''e under General "Wolfe. Several hundred served 
on board the King's ships as seamen, and the remainder of the sis 
thousand five hundred men, voted in the spring, served under General 
Amherst. Besides this force, upon application from General AVolfe, 
three hundred more were raised and sent to Quebec bj' the lieutenant- 
governor, in the absence of the governor at Penobscot. These sers'ed 
as pioneers and in other capacities, in which the regulars must other- 
wise have been employed." 

In 1760, the colony voted 5,000 men who served this year in con- 
junction with other pro-\-incials and about 1,600 regulars, under Col. 
Haviland. They entered Canada from Crown Point by Lake Cham- 
plain, and joining the column under Gen. Amherst from Albany, and 
that under Gen. Murray from Quebec, they facilitated the reduction 
of Montreal and the whole province of Canada. 

In 1762 " Massachusetts was again called upon for a like number of 
men as had been in service the last year, to serve upon the continent, 
while the regulars were to be employed in an important service else- 
where. The assembly determined to raise 3,200 men, which number 



144 EISTGLISH OPrSTION" OP. COLOJv^rAL TROOPS. 

was satisfactory. They also voted a bountj' of seven pounds per man, 
to encourage the enlistment of 893 men into the regular troops. This 
is a singular instance. 

" Men were raised with greater ease than ever. By habit, they 
became fond of the life of a soldier. The number now required not 
being half what had been required in several former years, there was 
not room for many who were inclined to serve, and who thus were 
obliged to remain at home." (Hutchinson, iii. 9G.) 

The Peace of Paris was signed Feb. 10, 17G3, leaving Canada in the 
possession of the English and thus finally freeing the colonists from 
the danger which had been always menacing them for the past century. 



This summary of matters which should in part have been entirely 
familiar to the English public at this time, may serve as a cor- 
rective to the slanders which follow, but which are worthy of our 
attention. The inconceivable blindness of the Englishmen on this 
point had an immense influence upon the action of the King and 
the Ministry.' The knowledge that such views were held in 
England was the main reason for fighting the battle which we 
are commemorating. 

In the printed P.arliamentary History (vol. 18, p. 226), I find 
in a debate, Feb. 2, 177.5, on an Address to the King upon the 
Disturbances in North America, that Colonel Grant spoke as 
follows. " He had served in America, and knew the Americans 
well ; was certain tliey would not fight. They would never dare 
to face an English army, and did not possess any of the quali- 



^ Among the more noted membcis of the House of Commons in the Parliament which 
met Nov. 29, 1774, ■were the Grenviiles; Sir John Borlace "Warren; James Manslield, 
Solicitor. General; Soame Jenyns; Edward Gibbon; Molineus Shuldham, admiral; John and 
Thomas Pownal; Alexander Wedderburn, Attorney-General; Kichard Rigby; Kichard Fitz. 
Patrick; Kichard, viscount Howe., admiral; George Selwyn; Thomas Harley; Sir Horace 
Mann; Gen. John Burgoyne; John Wilkes, Kichard Oliver, Frederick Bull, John Sawbridge, 
Georye Ilayley, all of London; Charles Townshend; Gen. "William Howe; Sir Henry Clin- 
ton; "William Eden; Frederick, lord North; Henry Strachey; Henry Cruger; Edmund 
Burke; Edward Thurlow, Gen. Henry Seymour Conway; Sir Fletcher Norton, the Speaker; 
Lord George Gerraaine; Capt, George Johnstone, K.N.; John Dunning; Isaac Earr6; 
Charles James Fox; Lord George Gordon; David H.iitlej'; Charles Jenkiuson; Lord Adam 
Gordon; Col. James Giant, Staats Long Morris, afterwards general; Col. John Maitland; 
uild Sir George Mac.'iitney. ■ W. H. "W. 



APPEXDIX C. 145 

fications to make a good soldier ; he repeated many of their 
common place expressions, ridiculed their enthusiasm in matters of 
religion, and drew a disagreeable picture of their manners and waj^s 
of living." 

Col. James Grant was a member of the Parliament wliich met 
Nov. 24, 1774, and represented the burghs of Kirlcwall, etc. He 
was Lt. Col. of the 40th Foot, 26 July, 1760 ; Colonel of the o.Jth 
Foot, Dec. 11, 1775; Maj. Gen., Aug. 29, 1777; Colonel of the 
11th Foot, Nov. 9, 1791; Lieut. Gen., Nov. 26, 1792; full General, 
May 3, 1796. The Gentleman's Magazine (1806, i. 479) mentions 
April 13, the death at his seat at •Ballendalloch, near Elgin, in Scot- 
land, of Gen. Grant, "very old." 

Hutchinson's Diary calls him Gov. Grant. 

Tt is satisfactory to know that his slanders promptly returned 
to trouble him, as soon as the reports of actual fighting reached 
England. Hutchinson in his Diary (i. 461) notes as follows under 
date of May 31st, 1775. 

" I called upon General Harvey, where I found Grant and 
Dalrymple. Harvey swore and reproached them — chiefly Dalrymple, 
because he wanted more forces — with this expression. ' How often 
have I heard you American Colonels boast that with four bat- 
talions you would march through America ; and now you thiulc 
Gage with 3,000 men and 40 pieces of cannon, mayn't venture 
out of Boston.' He was much heated in talking of the last 
advices from Boston." 

In the debate in the House of Lords, March 16th, 1775, on the Bill 
restraining the Trade and Commerce of the New England Colonies, the 
Earl of Sandwich made a very ridiculous and insulting speech, of 
which quite a full abstract has been preserved. (Pari. History, vol. 
18, p. 446.) 

" The noble lord mentions the impracticability of conquering Amer- 
ica ; I cannot think the noble lord can be serious on this matter. 
Suppose the colonies do abound in men, what does that signify? 
They are raw, undisciplined, cowardly, men. I wish instead of 
40,000 or 50,000 of these brave fellows, they would produce in the 
field at least 200,000, the more the better, the easier would be the 



146 EXGLISH OPIXIOX OF COLOXIAL TROOPS. 

conquest ; if they did not run away, they -would starve themselves 
into compliance with our measures. I will tell your lordships an an- 
ecdote that happened at the siege of Louisburgh : sir Peter "Warren 
told me, that, in order to try the courage of the Americans, he 
ordered a great number of them to be placed in the front of the 
army ; the Americans pretended at first to be very much elated at 
this marli of distinction, and boasted what mighty feats they would 
do upon the scene of action ; however, when the moment came to 
put in execution this boasted courage, behold, every one of them 
ran from the front to the rear of the army, with as much expedition 
as their feet could carry them, and threatened to go off entirel}', 
if the commander offered to make them a shield to protect the 
British soldiers at the expense of their blood ; they did not under- 
stand such usage. Sir Peter finding what egregious cowards they 
■were, and knowing of what importance such numbers must be to 
intimidate the French by their appearance, told these American 
heroes that his orders had been misunderstood, that he always in- 
tended to keep them in rear of the army to make the great pusli ; 
that it was the custom of generals to preserve the best troops to 
the last ; that this was always the Roman custom, and as the Amer- 
icans resembled the Romans in every particular, especially in courage 
and love of their country, he should make no scruple of following 
the Roman custom, and made no doubt but the modern Romans 
would shew acts of bravery, equal to any in ancient Rome. ' By 
such discourses as these,' said sir Peter "Warren, ' I made a shift 
to keep them with us, though I took care they should be pushed 
forward in no dangerous conflict.' 

" Now, I can tell the noble lord, that this is exactly the situation 
of all the heroes in North America ; they are all Romans : and are 
these the men to fright us from the post of honour? Believe me, 
my lords, the very sound of a cannon would carry them off, in sir 
Peter's words, ' as fast as their feet would carry them.' This is too 
trifling a part of the argument, to detain j'our lordships any longer. 
The noble earl then went on to abuse the Americans for not paying 
their debts ; he made no doubt that the real motive of their associa- 
tions was to defraud their creditors. That the congress, on which 



APPEXDIX C. 147 

the noble lord had passed high encomiums, was a seditious and treas- 
onable meeting of persons assembled to resist the legal and just 
aiithoritj' of the supreme legislative power ; and however dignified 
by his lordship, or any other noble lord, he should always continue 
to describe it by the latter appellation, as its only true and proper 
name. His lordehip entered into a long examination of the purport 
of the evidence given at the bar by Messrs. Lister, Da^-is, Shuldham, 
and Paliser ; and laboured to prove, that the present Bill, whatever 
other objects it might take in, was not, nor ought to be, a Bill 
of intimidation or experiment, but a perpetual law of commercial 
regulation, operating to extend our trade, to increase our seamen, 
and strengthen our naval power." 

On the other side, the members of the Opposition praised very 
higlily tlie conduct of the American troops. JIarch 27th, 1775 (Pari. 
Hist., vol. 18, p. 5.56), David Hartley, a member from Kiugston-upon- 
Hull, spoke as follows. 

" To begin with the late war. The Americans turned the success 
of the war, at both ends of the line. Gen. Monkton took Beause- 
jour in Nova Scotia witli 1,500 provincial troops and about 200 
regulars. Sir William Johnson in tlie other part of America, 
changed the face of the war to success with a provincial army, which 
took baron Dieskau prisoner. But, Sir, the glories of the war, 
under the united British and American arms, are recent in every 
one's memory. Suffice it to decide this question, that the Ameri- 
cans bore, even in our judgment, more than theii- full proportion. 
They kept, one year with another, 25,000 men on foot, and lost in 
the war the flower of their youth. 

"Nor did they stint their services to North America; they fol- 
lowed their British arms out of their continent, to the Havaunah and 
Martinique, after the complete conquest of America. And so had 
they done in the preceding war. They were not grudging of their 
exertions ; they were at the siege of Carthagena : yet what was 
Carthagena to them, but as members of the common cause, of the 
glory of this country? In that war too, Sir, they took Louisbourg 
from the French, single-handed, without any European assistance ; 
as mettled an enterprise as any in our history ! an everlasting memorial 
of the zeal, courage and perseverance of the troojis of New England." 



148 EXGLISH OPIXION" OF COLONTAL TROOPS. 

October 26, 1775, on the Debate at the Opening of the Session 
(Pari. Hist., vol. 18, p. 751), Governor Johnstone ( ? Capt. George 
Johnstone, R.N., member for Appleby?) said 

" I maintain that the sense of the best and wisest men in this 
country is on the side of the Americans ; that three to one in Ire- 
land are on their side ; that the soldiers and sailors feel an unwil- 
lingness to the service ; that you will never find the same exertions 
of spirit in this as in other wars. ... I am well informed, that 
the four field officers in the four regiments now going from Ireland, 
have desired leave to retire or sell out. I do not mean that the 
soldiers or sailors in America have shown any signs of cowardice, 
this is below their spirit ; I only assert they in general proclaim it 
a disagreeable service ; most of the army feel it as such ; that num- 
bers have not deserted is owing to their situation. There is a wide 
difference between the English officer or soldier who barely does his 
duty, and the general exertions of the New England army, where 
every man is thinking what further service he can perform ; where 
every soldier is a Scsevola." 

Col. Barr6, the well-known member from Calne, in the same 
debate (Pari. History, vol. 18, p. 767) said 

"The Americans had been called cowards; that the noble lord at 
the head of the Admiralty [Sandwich] had wantonly raked up the 
ashes of a deceased admiral to confirm his hasty assertions ; but 
now he had sent for a living admiral home, to give the departed 
one the lie. As to cowards, they were certainly the greatest to his 
knowledge ; for the 47th regiment of foot, which behaved so gal- 
lantly at Bunker's HiU. (an engagement which smacked more of 
defeat than victory) — the very corps that broke the whole French 
column and threw them into such disorder at the siege of Quebec — 
were three parts composed of these cowards." 

In the Debate on the American Prohibitory Bill, Dec. 1, 1775 
(Pari. History, vol. 18, p. 1033), Hon. Richard Fitzpatrick (member 
from Tavistock, and brother to the Earl of Upper Ossor\'), 

" Complained of the conduct of admiaistration in keeping every- 
thing secret; it was very probable, if administration could have kept 
it a secret that the King's troops were defeated at Lexington in 
April, or that they suffered worse than a defeat at Bunker's HUl, 



APPEXDIX C. 140 

— we should have never heard of these mortifying occurrences; nor 
that an army of 10,000 men, with a most formidable train of artil- 
lery, and commanded by four generals of reputation, liave been 
blocked up during the whole summer by a bod}' of people who have 
been described in this House, ever since their names have been first 
mentioned, as a mere cowardly rabble." 

Dec. 7th, 1775, on the Debate on Jlr. Hartley's Proposition for Con- 
ciliation (Pari. Hist., vol. l'*^, p. 1055), Aid. John Sawbridge (mem- 
ber from London) said 

" It has been very fashionable both within and without doors, to 
stigmatize the Americans as cowards and poltroons, but he believed 
the truth would be on the other side ; for he was well informed that 
the King's troops at the action of Bunker Hill consisted of 2,500 
men, and the provincials not quite 1,500; and even those 1,500 
men would have completely defeated the King's troops, if theu: am- 
munition had not been totall}' spent." 

Lord North in reply estimated the American force at 8,000 men ; 
to which Gov. Johnstone replied, "At all events there was something 
fatal to the noble lord's argument either way ; for either the works 
were weak and tlierefore the provincials defended them bravely ; 
or being strong, it showed what a dangerous enemy they must be 
who could raise and so judiciously construct such works, from 11 
o'clock at night on a summer's evening till day-break the next 
morning." 

Col. Morris placed the American force engaged at fully 5,000, 
which was two to one. 

In a debate Feb. 20, 1776 (Pari. Hist., vol. 18, p. 1155), CoL 
Barr6 said " that the troops, from an aversion to the service, mis- 
behaved at Bunker's-hill on the 17th of June." 

General Burgoyne, who was a member from Preston, "rose with 
warmth, and contradicted the last honorable member in the flattest 
manner. He allowed that the troops gave waj' a little at one time, 
because thej^ were flanked by the fire out of the houses, etc., at 
Charles-Town ; but they soon rallied and advanced ; and no men on 
earth ever behaved with more spirit, firmness and perseverance, tUl 
they forced the enemy out of their entrenchments." 



150 EifGLiSH oprsriox or colonial tkoops. 

That Burgoyne must have spoken, as above reported, -vrUh some 
mental reservations, will appear from the following copies of his confi- 
dential letters, vrritteu at the time from Boston. The}' will be found 
in the volume of his " Life and Correspondence," edited by Fonblanque, 
and printed in London in 1S7G, at pp. 142-154 and 191-199. These 
letters, I believe, have not been copied in full before, although extracts 
were printed in Dr. Ellis's Oration in 1876, on the Centennial Anniver- 
sary of the Evacuation of Boston. 



"TO LOED EOCHFOET. 

" My Lord, — I take the first opportunity of a safe conve\'ance to 
enter upon the confidential correspondence which your Lordship per 
mitted me to hold with you. And while I lament the untoward state of 
things, which, in consistency with such an intercourse, I may often be 
bound to impart, it is truly satisfactory to me to reflect that m\- com- 
munications and opinions will be safe and sacred under the guard of 
your honour and friendship : the one will secure me from being discov- 
ered bj"- those who might consider my intelligence with jealousj' or 
prejudice : to the other I trust for a candid and generous interpretation 
of the freedoms ray pen may take. 

" The end I aim at is to convey truth to the King. My heart disavows 
a single seutiment of asperity or ill-will towards any servant of the 
Crown in America ; and in regard to that servant in particular to 
whom, in stating facts, I must necessarily and principally allude, I 
desire to be considered as one who bears high respect to his private 
virtues : and who, in commenting upon the circumstances of his public 
conduct, finds reason to justify him in some, to excuse him in others, 
and to pity him in all. 

" I arrived at Boston, together with Generals Howe and Clinton, on 
the 25th Maj'. It would be unnecessary were it possible, to describe 
our surprise or other feelings, upon the appearances which at once and 
on every side, were oflTered to our observation. The town, on the land 
side, invested by a rabble in arms, who flushed with success and inso- 
lence, had advanced their sentries to pistol-shot of our out-guards ; the 



APPEXDIX C. I.jI 

ships in the harbour exposed to, and expecting a cannonade or bom- 
bardment ; — in all companies, whether of officers or inhabitants, men 
still lost in a sort of stupefaction which the events of the 19th of April 
had occasioned, and ^■enting expressions of censure, anger, or despond- 
ency. 

" The principle of seizing arms, and thereby bringing the designs of 
the malcontents to a test and a decision was certainly just. We can 
only wonder that it was not sooner adopted. Had General Gage held 
himself authorised by his instruction, sufficient in force, and unim- 
peded by other difficulties, to have acted upon this principle early in the 
preparations of hostility, and at the same time to have seized the 
persons of Adams, Hancock, and other leaders who were then wilhin 
his reach, it would probably have tended to the best effects ; but even 
then means should have been found, such as at a later time he made 
use of, to obtain secret intelligence of the enemy's counsels ; military 
precautions should have been used to prepare the troops for the sort of 
combat thcj' were to exi)ect, and so prevent a possibility of insult to the 
troops, or at least of advantage over tliem. Posts should have been 
occupied for keeping open the adjacent country for the supplj' of the 
town ; and above all, plentiful stores should have been [n-ovided of 
every article that, in failure of common supplies, every exigency might 
require. Perhaps the town and harbour of Boston are more advan- 
tageously situated for the establishment of magazines, supposing the 
command of the sea, than any spot that could be found upon the map 
of the world. 

" It 's not therefore from the principle of the measure of the 19th of 
April, but from the plan of the execution, and the want of preparation 
for the consequences, that I think may be derived great part of the 
perplexity and disgrace which have followed. 

" The news of this miscarriage, aggravated with misrepresentation 
and inflammatory suggestions, were dispersed, it is incredible how 
swiftly, from one end of the continent to the other. A total suppres- 
sion of those who were acting in favour of Government followed every- 
where ; and from the neiglibouring provinces reinforcements flocked to 
the victorious insurgents by thousands a day. The cattle upon the 
neiglibouring islands in the harbour (a poor stock it must be confessed) 



152 EICGLISII OFINIOK OF COLONIAl, TROOPS. 

were taken off with triumph ; the houses of those who had dared to 
supply provisions to the garrison, were burnt ; an armed vessel of the 
fleet was burnt, and her guns taken awaj' in the view of an admn'al and 
lieutenant-general ; and in the unfortunate situation to which things 
were then reduced, I do uot know that they could have prevented these 
insults. At last, the enemy advanced works upon the height which 
commands the town and harbour; and there seemed to want only the 
opening of batteries to pi'oduee a more singular and shameful event 
than can be found in the history of the world — a paltry' skirmish (for 
the affair of the Itth of April was no more) inducing circumstances as 
rapid and as decisive as tlie battle of Pharsalia ; and the colours of a 
fleet and army of Great Britain, not wrested from us, but without a con- 
flict kicked out of America. 

" The sentiments of Howe, Clinton, and mj'self have been unanimous 
from the beginning. We have alike endeavoured to palliate past omis- 
sions ; to conceal present irremediable wants ; to press vigorous under- 
takings. At the same time, we have been obliged in justice to 
acknowledge that the reasons for waiting to the last moment for the 
expected reinforcements which it was known were near, were justly 
founded. 

"At the time when the exigencies above stated had nearly' reached 
their consummation, the troops of the first embarkation happily arrived. 
The effect on the spirits of the army was visible. Nevertheless, the 
proceedings of the enemy did not manifest any intimidation on their 
part. They pushed on their work on the heights on both sides of the 
town with double diligence. We lost no time in preparation, and on 
the 17th iustant, General Ilowe was detached with a considerable corps, 
to attack on the heights of Charlestown. 

"It would be waste of your Lordship's time to enter into the detail 
of an action that will of course be conveyed at large to the King's 
servants by General Gage's letters ; and my friend Howe's conduct 
will not want my testimony to do it justice. Clinton had the good 
fortune in tlie course of the action to be actively employed, and ac- 
quitted himself, as I am persuaded he will ever do, much to his 
honour. For my part, the iuferiority of my station as youngest 
Major-Geueral upon the staff, left me almost a useless spectator, for 



APPENDIX C. 1J3 

my whole business lay in presitling during part of the action over a 
cannonade to assist the left. 

" This situation, you well linow, my Lord, I foresaw, and felt, 
before I left England. In the general regular course of business in 
this army, Major-Generals are absolute cyphers. The small number 
of brigades and large number of Brigadiers perhaps makes them nec- 
essarily so. We have not even the little employment of inspection ; 
and for commands of detacliments of consequence like the last, should 
they go in rotation, I am afraid the sphere of our campaign must be 
too bounded to furnisli one to eacii of the triumvirate. My lot in 
justice and propriety must come last, and in tlie meantime my rank 
only serves to place me in a motionless, drowsy, irksome medium^ or 
rather vacuum, too low for the honour of command, too hirrli for 
that of execution. This correspondence is the single gratification my 
mind receives in its activity and zeal ; hut while I declare it single, I 
acknowledge it sufficient, provided it can furnish any useful lights in 
so great a cause ; and in that hope I will stifle the regret of beiucr 
otherwise unemployed. 

" I have supposed the King's servants to be apprised by General 
Gage's letters of the general circumstances of the success of 
the 17lh; and I now congratulate you, my dear Lord, upon 
an event that effaces the stain of the 19th of April, and will, I 
hope stand a testimony and a record in America of the superiority of 
regular troops over those of any other description. It is certain our 
detachment had to struggle with more than treble numbers, assisted 
with all that nature and art could do to strengthen a post; intoxicated 
with zeal ; and instigated, during the action by the presence of one of 
tlieir most favourite and able demagogues (Warren), who at last 
sealed his fanaticism with his blood before their ej-es. 

" In this point of view the action is honourable in itself ; and what- 
ever measures his Majesty's couuciis may now^ pursue, it must be of im- 
poitant assistance by the impression it will make, not only in America, 
but universally upon public opinion. It may be wise policy to support 
this impression to the utmost, both in writing and discourse ; but when 
I withdraw the curtain, your Lordship will find much cause for present 
reflection, much for the exercise of your judgment, upon the future 
conduct of the scene. 



154 ENGLISH OPrN^ION OF COLOI^^IAL TKOOPS. 

"Turn your eyes first, my Lord, to the behaviour of the enemy. 
The defence was well conceived and obstinatelj' maintained ; the 
retreat was no flight ; it was even covered with bravery and military 
skill, and proceeded no farther than to tlie next hill, where a new post 
was taken, new intrencbments instantly begun, and tlieir numbers 
affording constant reliefs of workmen, they have been continued day 
and night ever since. 

" View now, my Lord, the side of victorj- ; and first the list of killed 
and wounded. If fairly- given, it amounts to no less than uiuety-two 
officers, many of them an irreparable loss — a melancholy dispropor- 
tion to the number of the private soldiers — and there is a melancholy 
reason for it. Though my letter passes in security, I tremble while I 
write it ; and let it not pass even in a whisper from j-our Lordship to 
more than one person : the zeal and intrepidity of the officers, which 
was without exception exemplary, was ill-secouded by the private men. 
Discipline, not to say courage, was wanting. In the critical moment of 
carrying the redoubt, the officers of some corps were almost alone ; 
and what was the worst part of the confusion of these corps — all the 
wounds of the officers were not received from the enemy. I do not 
mean to convey any sus[)icion of bacliwardness in the cause of Govern- 
ment among the soldiery, which ignorant people in England are apt to 
imagine ; and as little would I be understood to implj' any dislike or 
ill-will to their officers. I believe the men attached to their regiments, 
and exasperated against the enemy — that there has not been a single 
desertion since the 19th of April is a proof of it — I only mean to 
represent that the men in the defective corps being ill-grouuded in the 
great points of discipline, and the men in all the corps having twice felt 
their enemy to be more formidable than they expected, it will require 
some training under such generals as Howe and Clinton before they 
can prudently be intrusted in many exploits against such odds as the 
conduct and spirit of the leaders enabled them in this instance to 
overcome. 

" But suppose that point of coufldcuce in the troops attained. Look 
my Lord, upon the country near Boston — it is all fortification. 
Driven from one hill, you will see the enemy continually retrenched 
upon the next ; and eveiy step we move must be the slow step of a 



APPEJfDIX C. loo 

siege. Could we at last penetrate ten miles, perhaps we should not 
obtain a single sheep or an ounce of flour liy our laborious progress, 
for they remove every article of provisions as they go. Does any man 
extend his expectations to a further scope of country, and against such 
an enemy, who in composition and system are all light troops, they 
are not more than requisite to secure our convoys and communications 
between tlie army and the great deposit of magazines ; or if that dif- 
ficult}' were got over by great and active genius, look into our state 
once more, and you will find us totally unprovided with bread waggons, 
hospital carriages, bat-horses, sufflcient artillery horses, and manj- other 
articles of attirail indispensably necessary for an armj- to proceed by 
land to a great distance. 

" I am apprehensive lest this representation, taken upon the gross, 
should seem to carry more of imputation than I professed at setting out. 
But I do not mean it, and would explain myself upon that subject once 
for all. 

" I think General Gage possessed of ever}' qualitj- to maintain quiet 
government witli honour to himself and happiness to those he governs ; 
his temper and his talents, of which he has many, are calculated to dis- 
pense the offices of justice and lumianity. In the military I believe him 
cai)able of figuring upon ordinary and given lines of conduct, but his 
mind has not resources for great, and sudden, and hardy exertions, 
which spring self-suggested in extraordinarj' characters, and generally 
overbear all opposition. In short, I think him a contrast to that 
cast of men, somewhere described, — 

" ' Fit to disturb the peace of all tlie world 
And rule it when 'tis wildest.' 

" Unfortunatel}- for us that cast of character, at least the latter part 
of it, is precisely what we want here ; and I hope I shall not be thought 
to disparage my general and my friend in pronouncing him unequal to 
his situation, when I add that I tliink it one in which Caesar might have 
failed. 

" The lamentable point with which I shall close the state of our affairs 
(one, indeed, in which Csesar would not have erred) is the parsimonious 



15(5 EXGLISH OPtN'IOX OF COLOXIAL TKOOPS. 

extreme to which our system of caution has extended in point of money. 
Your Lordship is blotter placed than I am to discover whether any part 
of that blame lies at home ; some may possibly be due to those at the 
head of subordinate departments here. The general may have excuses 
for the rest, but the miserable result of the whole is that the interest of 
the treasury has been managed, or mismanaged, till we are destitute, 
not only of cattle and magazines of forage, but of the most important 
of all circumstances in war or negotiation, — intelligence. AVe are 
ignorant, not only of what passes in congresses, but want spies for the 
hill half a mile off. And what renders the reflection truly provoking is 
that there was hardly a leading man among the rebels, in councils or in 
the field, but, at a proper time and by proper management, might have 
been bought. 

" It is now time to consider, my Lord — and the question will naturally 
be asked in the King's councils at home, — can nothing then be done 
this campaign? I think something m:iy, and my colleagues and Gen- 
eral Gage I believe, will agree in my opinion. When the four battal- 
ions of the second embarkation arrive (and they are expected daily, one 
vessel being come in) , and such of the wounded men as we ma^- expect 
speedily to recover have joined their regiments, our army will consist of 
about five thousand two hundred effective men, exclusive of officers. 
If you, in England, j-eckon upon more, you are mistaken. With this 
force, and perhaps before it all arrives, we cannot fail possessing the • 
whole peninsula on the south of Boston, called Dorchester Neck. It is 
proposed afterwards to fortif}' it with redoubts. To occupy this ground 
when so fortified, on one side, the heights of Charlestown on the other, 
and the lines and other works of Boston in the centre, will take, in the 
opinion of our best officers, upwards of three thousand men. 1 will 
suppose, therefore, about two thousand left to be employed upon expe- 
ditions. I would embark this force, and unite to it all the ships of war 
that can be safely spared from the protection of Boston. 

" I should think one probable and immediate effect would be the sepa- 
ration of a great part of the Massachusetts army, which is composed of 
the forces of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Hampshire. The Bosto- 
nians alone would remain before Boston. This possibly might give an 
opening to those affected by their inclinations (for such I still believe 



APPENDIX C. loi 

there are), and to a much larger numljer affected by their interest, lo 
move in our favour. And if thej' did not open a direct commuuicatiuu 
with the town, in the starving condition it is in at present, even smug- 
gling a quantity of fresh provisions would be of great consequence to 
the health and spirits both of army and inhabitants; the former live 
entirely upon salt meat, and I hardly guess how some of the latter live 
at all. 

" The expedition at sea, the whole coast of America, equally ignorant 
of its destination, would be equally in alarm. The real points for act- 
ing with effect must depend upon circumstances. My idea would be to 
try the temper and strength of places, by degrees, to the southward. 
Rhode Ishind ought to feel chastisement ; Connecticut river, if practi- 
cable, would afford ample contribution ; Long Island will, I hope, be 
found deserving of encouragement, and can hardly fail, under protec- 
tion of force, to become an excellent market for supplies. As for 
New York, do not let me be thought positive or chimerical if I still 
retain the sentiments I so much pressed in London. That province is 
lost for want of management, and a proper force to second it. I con- 
tinue to lament that I was not thought worthy of undertaking that 
business. I might have failed, but with the temjier which prevailed in 
the Assembly, and the different uses which might have been made of 
the military power, to encourage and to terrify, I would have been con- 
tent to forfeit all pretensions to discretionary trust hereafter if I had. 
Even now, notwithstaudiug the use that has been made of the 19th of 
April, I do not despair of great effects from an expedition there, if wise 
measures are taken to work upon men's minds. 

" As one previous step to that purpose, m}' advice to General Gage 
had been to treat the prisoners taken in the late action, most of whom 
are wounded, with all possible kindness, and to dismiss them without 
terms. ' You have been deluded ; return to your homes in peace ; it is 
3'our duty to God and your country to undeceive your neighbors.' 

"I have had opportunities to sound the minds of these people. 
Most of tliem are men of good understandings, but of much prejudice, 
and still more credulity ; they are yet ignorant of their fate, and some 
of them expect, when they recover, to be hanged. Such an act of 
mercy as I have proposed may make an imi)ressiou, and it may spread. 



1J8 ENGLISH OPLN'IOX OF COLO>'IAl, TKOOPS. 

Should it fail, it will at least servo to justifj' acts of a different nature 
hereafter ; and you are no further dupes of it in the meantime than by 
adding about thirty men now in j'our power to a stocic of as many 
thousands who are out of it. 

" Another and more material prelude to an expedition will be a 
manifesto ; and I heartih' wish a proper one, framed in England by the 
King's ablest counsellors, could arrive in time. 

" Large contributions of cattle, forage, and other requisite stores for 
winter magazines, must, I think, be obtained. Should some towns be 
burned, and otliers be deserted, it will be warning and alarm to the yet 
more southern provinces ; and should the enthusiasm of the time and 
the control of the seditious leaders be indeed general, Government will 
at least have clear liglits to proceed by. 

" If the continent is to be subdued hy arms, his Majesty's councils 
will find, I am persuaded, the proper expedients ; but I speak con- 
fidently as a soldier, because I speak tlie sentiments of those who 
know America best, that you can have no probable prospect of 
bringing the war to a speedy conclusion with any force that Great 
Britain and Ireland can supply. A large army of such foreign troops 
as might be hired, to begin operations up the Hudson river ; another 
army composed partly' of old disciplined troops and partly of Cana- 
dians, to act from Canada ; a large levy of Indians, and a supply of 
arms for the blacks, to awe the southern provinces, conjointly with 
detachments of regulars ; and a numerous fleet to sweep the whole 
coast, might possibly do the business in one campaign. 

" Should it be thought more expedient to the nation, and reconcilable 
to its honour, to relinquish the claims iu question, I doubt not the 
wisdom of those councils of which your Lordship is so distinguished 
a part, will propose sucli relinquishment as will be at once effectual. 
But I am fully persuaded that any intermediate measure between 
these disagreeable extremes (except that of withdrawing your armj', 
anJ leaving the restraints of trade enforced by a fleet to operate, 
which would be a work of long protraction), I repeat my full per- 
suasion — that any intermediate measure, supposing the confederation 
to be general, will be productive of much fruitless expense, great 
loss of blood, and a series of dis:\ppointuients. 



APPENDIX C. IJ.'j 

" I have delivered this sentiment firmly, but I relj' upon your Lord- 
ship's candour to receive it as intelligence collected by personal 
observation of men and things which those at home have not oppor- 
tunity to make ; and not as a presumption of my private judgment 
acting in competition with those to whom the King Las entrusted the 
great direction of the state." 



"TO LOED GEOEGE GEEMAIK 

" Boston, 20th August, 1775. 

" Mt Lord, — I have never lost the remembrance of the honour you 
did me in permitting me to write to you, and I rely upon your Lord- 
ship's candour not to consider my silence hitherto as inconsistent with 
that profession. Tbe occasions of writing confidentially have been 
few, and those generally so sudden as barely to leave time to despatch 
letters of business and family concern. 

"The notoriety of the event of the 19th of April; the general revolt 
which ensued ; the blockade of Boston ; the action of the 17th of June 
upon Charlestown heights, and many other occurrences previous to the 
return of the "Cerberus," necessarily stated in all public letters, and 
commented upon in all private ones, will much abridge my undertaking 
at present. 

" Your Lordship's insight into men and things will make my reflec- 
tions equally superfluous upon the parts of our present dilemma impu- 
table at home. Whatever party iu America may father this rebellion, 
all parties in England have contributed to nurse it into strength. 
Inconsistencies and contradictions, by a strange fatality of the times, 
have lost their usual nature. Ministry and Opposition, faction and 
meekness of spirit, principles the most incongruous, have iu effect 
operated to the same end ; — till after a fatal procrastination, not only 
of vigorous measures, but of preparation for such, we took a step as 
decisive as the passage of the Rubicon, and found ourselves plunged at 
once in a most serious war, without a single requisite, gunpowder ex- 
cepted, for carrying it on. 

" Such was the beginning of the campaign ; and the almost only cir- 



IGO EXGLISH OPIXIOX OF COLOXIAl, TKOOPS. 

cumstance upon which the mind can rest witli a moment's satisfaction 
since, is the victory obtained at Charlestown by the spirit and conduct 
of Mr. Howe, and the esemph\ry, I might almost saj' unexampled, 
bravery of the offiueis under him. 

" It would depreciate this victory to estimate only its immediate 
effects. Great as they are, they do not more than compensate the 
heavy loss by which it was bought. But in one consideration it may be 
esteemed most important ; it re-establishes the ascendency of the 
King's troops in public opinion, and enables us to rest upon our arras, 
or even to close the war, should the enemy so incline, with an impres- 
sion, not only beneficial to the present circumstances of England, but 
to the general repose of mankind. I believe in most states of the 
world, as well as our own, the respect and control and subordination of 
Government at this da\-, in great measure depends upon the idea that 
trained troops are invincible against any number or any position of un- 
disciplined rabble, and this idea was a little in suspense since the 19th 
of April. 

" I have one remaining subject of congratulation for your Lordship 
and other friends of Government, and with that I am afraid I must 
close all the agreeable part of my intelligence. It is however, highly 
satisfactory. The army is firmly attached in principle to the cause of 
Britain ; the private men, a veiT few rascally drafts and recruits from 
Irish jails excepted, have not deserted. On the contrarj' they appear 
in general exasperated against their enemy ; and as to the officers, no 
men ever fought or endured hardship with more alacrity and distin- 
guished fortitude. 

"Occasion will doubtless be taken in England, as well as in 
America, to extol the defence of the rebels at Charlestown, and the 
report of our loss will assist prejudices. But nothing happened there, 
or in any of the little affairs since, that raised them in my opinion one 
jot above the level of all men expert in the use of firearms ; Corsican^, 
Miquclets, Croats, Tartars, mountaineers, and boidcrers, in almost all 
countries, have in their turns done more hardy things than defend one 
of the strongest posts that nature and art combined could make, and 
then run away. In short, it is as i)i-eposterous to recur to Sparta 
and Athens for comparisons to their courage, as it is to suppose their 



APPE>T)IX C. ICl 

spring of action in this revolt analogous to the genuine spirit of liberty 
that guided those states. But the muUitude are zealous, and the 
leaders, though often the most profligate hypocrites, have among them 
very able meu. I believe Adams to be as great a conspirator as ever 
subverted a state. I cannot help quoting a passage of a letter from 
him to his wife, intercepted the other day, and which I conclude is 
transmitted with some others, to Lord Dartmouth : — 

"' Tlie business' (says he) ' I have had upon mj' mind has been as 
great and important as can be entrusted to man, and the difficulty and 
intricacy of it is prodigious — a constitution to form for a great 
empire — a country of fifteen hundred miles in extent to fortify — 
millions to train and arm — a naval power to begin — an extensive com- 
merce to regulate — a standing army of twenty-seven thousand men to 
raise, paj", and victual, and officer, &c.' 

" In another confidential letter to a friend, intercepted at the same 
time, after expressing great dissatisfaction against one of his tools (I 
conclude he means Handcock, president of the Continental Congress, 
whom he calls a piddling genius), lie goes on thus; — ' AVe ought to 
have had in our hands a month ago the whole legislative, executive and 
judicial of the whole continent, and liave completely modelled a consti- 
tution ; to have raised a naval power, and opened all our ports wide ; 
to have arrested every friend of Government on the Continent, and held 
them as hostages for the poor victims in Boston. Shall I hail you 
Speaker of the House' (meaning a Provincial Congress), or councillor, 
or what? "What sort of magistrates do you intend to make? 'Will your 
new legislative and executive feel bold or irresolute? AVill j'our judicial 
hang, and whip and fine, and imprison without scruple? &c. &c. 

" The bare effort of investigating such objects argues an aspiring and 
vigorous mind : but when it is considered that with a profligate chai'ac- 
ter, a very unpopular origin in party, neither supported by pecuniary 
nor political interest, nor ascending to factious eminence by the foot- 
steps of any leader or patron ; that merely by the exercise of his parts, 
availing himself of the temper and prejudices of the times, he has 
cajoled the opulent, drawn in the wary, deluded the vulgar till all 
parties in America, and some in Great Britain, are puppets in his 
string ; when the contrivance, and extent, and execution of his present 



1G2 ENGLISH OPIXIOX Or COLOXIAL TKOOPS. 

plans as far as they appear or are conceived, are examined, I am per- 
suaded your Lordsliip will, with me, lose sight of Catiline or Cromwell 
in passing judgment upon his character. 

"Be assui'ed, my Lord, this man soars too high to be allured by 
any offer Great Britain can make to himself or to his countrj-. America, 
if his counsels continue in force, must be subdued or relinquished. She 
will not be reconciled. 

"I will not presume to suggest measures for proceeding in either of 
the extremes with honour to Britain. Your Lordship's acute discern- 
ment will best point. them out. Nor would I willingly lead your atten- 
tion from objects of that magnitude to the very inferior ones of this 
campaign. I shall therefore say verv little upon it. 

" The blockade of Boston canuot be effectually relieved. Not that I 
think it impossible, even with our disparity of numbers, to dislodge the 
enemy from their present posts ; but that neither having bread-waggons, 
bat-horses, sufficient artillery horses, nor other articles of attirail neces- 
sary for an army to move at a distance ; nor numbers to keep up posts 
of communication and convoys (had we even magazines to be con- 
voyed), it would be impossible after success to open the country so as 
to force supplies. 

" Conceiving therefore that an attack upon the adjacent entrenchments 
might be attended with considerable loss and no possible advantage, my 
colleagues and I have been unanimous (as indeed we have been upon 
every other matter) to advise operations at a distance. 

" My own favourite plan is a descent at Rhode Island, where I would 
entrench ; and I think it might be effected with two thousand men and 
some frigates. I have set foith in a memorandum to General Gage 
the advantages that I think possessing that post would afford, not 
only as a diversion that might probably disperse the army before 
Boston, but likewise as it is of importance to cover and facilitate 
greater designs. 

"I confess a despair of seeing this or anj- other enterprise take 
place — our efforts at best have but the disappointed vigour of a dream : 

" ' Nequicquam extendere eursus 
Velle videmur, et iu mediis conatibus tegri 
Succidimus.' 



ATPEXDIX C. 1G3 

" The representation I have touched may seem to carry imputation 
to General Gage. I check my pen whenever tliat thought comes 
across me, for I have a most sincere vahie for his character, which is 
replete with virtues and with talents. That it is not of a cast proper 
for his present situation, I allow ; find hence many, though far from 
all, of our misfortunes. To have prevented, or to have redeemed the 
circumstances of this war, required a man of the greatest resources of 
mind — of a spirit not to be overborne by difficulties ; but above all of 
a resolution to act upon the occasion ; in events which the King's ser- 
vants at home could not have foreseen, to substitute reason and prin- 
ciple for orders — to state his motives — and whatever were the 
fortune of his undertaking, to submit his honour and his head to the 
judgment of his country. 

" If this character in the present age be not quite ideal, it is at least 
so rare as to admit us to mention where it fails without disparagement 
or offence to a respectable officer and friend. 

" It ma}' be askfd in England, ' What is the Admiral doing?' 

" I wish I were able to answer that question satisfactoiily ; but I 
can only saj' what he is not doing. 

" That he is not supplying us with sheep and oxen, the dinners of 
the best of us bear meagre testimony ; the state of our hospitals bears 
a more melancholy one. 

" He is not defending his own flocks and herds, for the enemy have 
repeatedly plundered his own islands. 

" He is not defending the pther islands in the harbour, for the 
enemy in force landed from a great number of boats, and burned the 
ligiithouse at noonday (having first killed and taken the party of 
marines which was posted there) almost under the guns of two or three 
men-of-war. 

" He is not employing his ships to keep up communication and 
intelligence with the King's servants and friends at the different parts 
of the continent, for I do not believe General Gage has received a 
letter from any correspondent out of Boston these six weeks. 

" He is intent upon greater objects, a'Ou will think, — supporting in 
the great points the dignity of the British flag, — and where a number 
of boats have been built for the enemy ; privateers fitted out ; prizes 



1G4 EXGLISII OPrNriON" of colonial TllOOPS. 

carried in ; the King's armed vessels sunk ; the crews made prisoners, 
the officers killed, — he is doubtless enforcing' instant restitution and 
reparation by the voice of his cannon and laying the towns in ashes 
that refuse his terms ? Alas ! he is not. British thunder is diverted 
or controlled by pitiful attentions and mere Quaker-like scruples ; and 
under such influences, insult and impunity, like righteousness and 
peace, have kissed each other. 

" I should have hesitated in giving an account that may appear 
invidious, had not the facts been too notorious to expose me to that 
censure, and my feelings in this great cause too sensible to observe 
them without some impatience. Upon the whole, when the supineuess 
of this department is added to the diffidence of the other ; and the 
defects of Quartermaster-Generals, Adjutant-Generals, Secretaries, and 
Commissaries, are superadded to both, they will make altogether a 
mass of inefficiencies that I am afraid would counteract and disappoint 
the ablest counsels in the world. 

" You will now, my Lord, indulge me with a moment's patience if I 
say one word of myself. I have experienced, in fact, all I foresaw of 
an irksome situation before I left England, and much more. It is hard 
to conceive so absolute a cypher in a military light as the youngest 
Major-General in this army. I have been brought from the most 
interesting concerns, pleasures, duties of life, to partake of ever}* 
inconvenience that can be supposed to exist in a town invested on one 
side, asleep on the other ; and from both those and some other causes 
destitute of fresh provision, monej', and all those common comforts 
which habit makes almost necessaries, and with scarcely any other 
employment than to contemplate errors that I cannot redress. 

" I do not complain of this rough lot of service. I only lament the 
little use that is made of me. Every sentiment I feel in this great 
cause tells me (and I trust I am free from vanity in those sensations) 
I deserve a more active station. My private motives, therefore, are 
not more prevalent than public ones when I solicit leave to return to 
England. A proposal for making myself serviceable was transmitted 
to Lord North some time ago, and I conclude it has been communi- 
cated to your Lordship. I mean to be a faitliful intelligencer to Gov- 
ernment, and, if I can, a useful one to Parliament ; and shall be ready 



APPE>nDIX C. l(Jo 

to cross the Atlantic back again in the spring, sliould the war continue, 
and be extended enough to make vay presence useful. 

"I have delivered my opinion of our circumstances with freedom, 
my Lord, but I hope without acrimony. I bear sincere friendship to 
some, and enmitj' to none of the persons to whom I have alluded. I 
have not witliheld important truths, because I am persuaded that the 
knowledge of them under your Lordship's management may be bene- 
ficial to this great national crisis ; and confiding in your Lordship's 
discretion, and I venture to add friendship, not to commit the author, 
I have only to finish this long intrusion upon j'our lime with sincere 
profession of tlie verj' profound respect witli which 
" I have the honour to be 

"Your Lordship's, &c., &e. 

"P. S. — Since writing the above, a provision of cattle is come in, 
and I hope it will have speedy effect upon the health of the camp : 
but we owe it to the transports armed and sent out by General Gage, 
and not to any assistance from the fleet." 



These confidential letters show very clearly that Burgoyne had a 
very profound respect for the bravery and skill of his undisciplined 
opponents, but that he deemed it essential to keep the English public 
deceived on this point ; and to even claim Bunker Hill as a British 
success, whilst Ms private comaction was strongly the opposite. 

W. H. ^Y. 



APPENDIX D. 



BUNKER-HILL MONUMENT. 



The historj' of the Monument, which now marks the site of the re- 
doubt where the battle raged most furiously, deserves to be made avail- 
able to all our citizens. Much of it is set forth in the " History of the 
Bunlver-Hill Monument Association," by the late George W. Warren 
(Boston, 1877) ; but a short sketch will give the main points. 

The first effort to raise a fitting memorial was made by King Solo- 
mon's Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, in Charlestown, who, in 
December, 1794, erected in Mr. Russell's pasture, a Tuscan pillar, built 
of wood, 18 feet high, placed upon a platform 8 feet high and 8 feet 
square, and surmounted by a gilt urn marked J. W JE. 34. The land 
required was given by James Russell, Esq., and the monument cost 
about one thousand dollars. A model of it is preserved in the entrance 
floor of the present Monument. 

The following resolve was passed by our Legislature, Feb. 3, 1796 
(Special Laws, ii. 52) : — 

AN ACT FOR THE PRESEKVATIOX OF A MONUMENT ERECTED ON THE 
HEIGHTS OF CHARLESTOWN. 

"Whereas, the Society of Freemasons, in Charlestown, in the county 
of jNIiddlesex, designated by the name of King Solomon's Lodge, have 
erected a Monument in memory of Major-General Joseph Warren and 
his associates, who were slain on the heights of said Charlestown, on 
the seventeenth of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five ; 
and have been presented by the Hon. James Eussell with a piece of 
laud for that purpose : 



5? 




APPENDIX D. 167 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority- of the same, 
That any legal deed or conveyance of the said land, duly recorded, 
shall enable the said King Solomon's Lodge of Freemasons to hold the 
same in fee-simple, for the purpose aforesaid, forever. 

Sect. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That 
the Master or Treasurer of the said Lodge for the time being shall have 
power and authority to sue for and recover damages, in any court of 
law suitable to try the same, from any person or persons who shall be 
convicted of defacing, injuring, or destroying the said Monument ; and 
the person or persons thus convicted shall, in addition to such damages 
as may be legally awarded, pay to the Master or Treasurer of the said 
Lodge a fine not exceeding twenty dollars, nor less than two dollars, at 
the discretion of the court before whom the action for damages shall be 
finally tried ; which fines shall be appropriated for the necessary repairs 
of the said Monument. 



The annexed view, from the " Massachusetts Magazine " for June, 
1791, shows the appearance of the hill. 

Here the matter rested for a quarter of a century, but in 1818 a 
controversy sprang up iu regard to the conduct of the battle, which led 
to a renewed interest in the subject. Daniel 'Webster, in the " North 
American Review," took a part iu the discussion, and William Tudor, 
the editor, was also warmly interested therein. In 1822, a portion of 
the land on the hill was offered for sale. Mr. Tudor conferred with 
several friends, one of whom. Dr. John C. Warren, purchaseil the lot 
and held it until the Association was formed. The prime movers iu the 
enterprise, besides these two, were Col. Thomas H. Perkins, Daniel 
Webster, William Sullivan, and George Blake. In May, 1823, these 
gentlemen and twenty others joined together to obtain an Act of Incor- 
poration for the purpose of " erecting such a monument as shall endure 
to future ages and be a permanent memorial, consecrated by the grati- 
tude of the present generation, to the memory of those statesmen and 
soldiers who led the way in the American Revolution." 



1G8 IIISTOKT OF TIIK JVIOXUMEIirT. 

The petition was promptly presented to the Legislature and the fol- 
lowing Act was passed June 7, 1823 (Special Laws, vi. 95) : — 

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT ASSOCIATION. 

Section 1. Be it enacted, b}- the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives, in General Court assembled, aud by the authority of the same, 
That Joseph Story, Jesse Putnam, Daniel "Webster, Edward Everett, 
Samuel D. Harris, Samuel Swett, Theodore Lyman, Jr., Stephen Gor- 
ham, Jr., Thomas H. Perkins, "William Tudor, Henry A. S. Dearborn, 
Benjamin Gorham, Franklin Dexter, "William Sullivan, George Ticknor, 
Charles R. Codman, "VTarren Duttoa, Isaac P. Davis, Thomas Harris, 
Seth Knowles, Benjamin "Welles, John C. Warren, George Blake, and 
Francis C. Gray, their associates and successors, be and thev are here- 
by made a body politic and corporate, by the name of the " Bunker 
Hill Monument Association," with all the powers and subject to all the 
duties of aggregate corporations, ami for the purposes hereinafter 
named. 

Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, That said corporation shall have 
power to take and hold, bj' gift, grant, or devise, such real aud personal 
estate and property as may be necessary or convenient to promote the 
object of the incorporation, the construction of a Monument in 
Charlestown, to perpetuate the memory of the early events of the 
American Revolution. 

Sect. 3. Be it further enacted. That the said Henrj' A. S. Dear- 
born, "William Tudor, and Theodore Lyman, Jr., or any two of them, 
may call the first meeting of said corporation, by giving three days* 
previous notice thereof in two public newspapers printed in Boston ; 
at which, or at any subsequent meeting, the said corporation may 
choose such officers, agents, and trustees as thoy may think proper, 
and establish such by-l.TWs and regulations for their own government 
and the management of their concerns, not repugnant to the laws and 
constitution of this Commonwealth, as they may deem necessary, and 
the same may modify and annul at pleasure. 

Sect. 4. Be it further enacted, That said corporation may, at any 
time after said monument shall be completed, assign and transfer the 



APPENDIX D. 169 

same, with the land on whicli it stands, and the appurtenances, to the 
Commonwealth ; and that the Commonwealth will accept the same, pro- 
vided that the Commonwealth shall not thereby become liable for debts 
contracted by said corporation. 



Oa June 13, 1823, the incorporators met, at the Exchange Coffee- 
House in Boston, and on June 17 they adopted by-laws and chose 
officers. The number of Directors was fixed at twenty-five, and that 
body appointed a Standing Committee of five, to manage the affairs 
of the corporation. It was also decided that any one who subscribed 
five dollars siiould become a member of the Association. 

The oiiginal Act of Incorporation did not seem entirely sufficient. 
Governor Eu^tis, who had served as surgeon at the battle of Bunker 
Hill, felt verj- strongly the propriety of the State's ownership of the 
completed Monument. In his address to the Legislature, Jan. 24, 
1825, he spoke as follows : — 

" The erection of a Monument on Bunker's Hill is another work of a 
public nature, in which our fellow-citizens have taken a great interest. 
For this purpose an Act of Incorporation was granted, and it is be- 
lieved that adequate funds will be raised by voluntary subscription. I 
recommend a revision of the Act, that two conditions may be added : 
first, that a plan or model be submitted to the Legislature for tlieir 
approbation previous to the construction of the Monument; and, 
secondly, that when it is completed, it shall revert to the Common- 
wealth. Should the funds prove insufficient for the completion of such 
a work as is worthy of the occasion and becoming the character of the 
State, I do not permit myself to doubt that aid will be afforded by an 
enlightened Legislature. 

" To commemorate one of the principal events of the Revolution ; to 
consecrate the field in Massachusetts, on which, in the first stages of 
the war, our heroes and statesmen sealed with tlieir blood the principles 
they had sworn to maintain ; where a disciplined enemy received from 
a hardy, untutored yeomanry a lesson which produced the most bene- 
ficial consequences through the whole of the Revolutionary War, — is 



170 HISTOKY OF THE MONUMENT. 

worthy the care of the patriot and statesman. The splendid column 
on Bunlter Hill will unite principles with history, patriotism with glory. 
It will be read by all ; its moral will strike deep in the heart, and leave 
an indelible impression on the mind. The trust is too sacred, the work 
too important, to rest exclusively in the charge of individuals ; it 
should be a common property, in which every citizen sliould have a 
right ; as it will be the pride, it should also be the property, of the 
Commonwealth. ' ' 



Governor Eustis died Feb. 6, 1825, but his wishes were met in sub- 
stance by the passage of the following law. The Association appeared 
as petitioners to the State, first, for aid in the form of money or its 
equivalent ; secondl}', for some cannon ; thirdly, for the right to talie 
land by right of eminent domain,^ as some parcels on the Hill could not 
easily be obtained by purchase. These conditions in favor of the 
Association were granted ; but coupled with them was the provision, 
curtailing the former grant, that the Monument when completed, with 
all the land purchased and then held by the Corporation, should be 
conveyed to the Commonwealth. 

AN ACT TO AID THE BUNKER HILL jrONDMENT ASSOCIATION. 

Passed Feb. 26, 1825 (Special Laws, vi. 280). 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, 
That the Bunker Hiil jNIonument Association shall be entitled to have 
the stone, of which their intended monument may be constructed, ham- 
mered and prepared to be used at the state prison in Charlestown ; 
and the proper officers of the prison are hereby authorized and required 
to cause the same stone to be hammered and prepared accordingly, and 
in such form and manner as the directors of said association may re- 
quest. Provided, that the hammering of stone, under the provisions of 

' WaiTcn says that tliis right was used only ia one case, that of a party under guardian- 
ship, who was owner of an undivided sixth part of a lot. 



APPENDIX D. 171 

this section, shall never exceed ia value the sum of ten thousancl dol- 
lars ; and, provided further, that nothing herein contained, shall be so 
construed as to prevent or retard the fulfilment of any contract for 
stone work with any other person or persons whatever. 

Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, that whenever the directors of said 
association shall apply therefor, the governor and council be, aud 
they hereby are authorized and empowered, to cause to be delivered to 
said association, tiie two cannon called the Hancock and Adams, to 
adorn the intended monument, and to be preserved as the earliest of 
the reliques of the revolutionary struggle, and to deliver, also, for the 
same purpose, any two other cannon, used in the Eevolutionary War, 
and now belonging to the state, as to the governor and council ma^' 
seem proper. 

Sect. 3. Be it further enacted, that the Bunker Hill Monument 
Association be, and the directors thereof, acting for said association, 
hereby are, authorized aud empowered to take and to appropriate to 
the legal uses of said association, any laud on Breed's Hill, in Charles- 
town, which said directors may find to be necessary in the design of 
erecting a monument, and laying out the surrounding ground in tiie 
appropriate manner, not exceeding five acres : Provided always that 
the said corporation shall, before the tille to said land which shall be 
so taken shall vest in said corporalion, apply by petition to the court 
of common pleas, in the county of Middlesex, to have a committee of 
five disinterested freeholders within the same county, appointed to 
appraise the land which may be so taken for the uses aforesaid, and 
the said committee shall be commissioned by said court to perform that 
duty, and shall be duly sworn to the performance thereof, and having 
notified all persons known to be interested in said land, to appear, at a 
time and place, to be by said committee appointed, shall proceed to 
appraise the same, and shall make return into said court under their 
hand and seals of their doings, and shall describe the lands taken by 
said corporation, by metes and bounds, and the just value thereof in 
money to each and every individual proprietor thereof, and the return 
of said committee being accepted by the court, aud ordered to be re- 
corded, the said corporation shall be holden to paj- unto said court the 
full appraised value of the laud taken, with all the costs of appraise- 



172 HISTORY OF THE MONUMENT. 

ment, and on making such payment into court, the title to said land 
shall vest in said corporation. Provided always, that any person or 
persons, who may be aggrieved by the appraisement of said committee, 
may move the court that a jury may be empanelled to appraise the 
value, by their verdict, of the land which may have been taken from 
such person or persons, and the said court shall proceed to enquire of 
the said value by the said jur^', and it shall be lawful for any two or 
more of the proprietors from vehom land shall have been taken, to join 
in submitting their joint or respective claims to such jury. And if the 
said jury shall not, by their verdict, find the value of the land to be 
greater than said committee shall have appraised the same at, the said 
former owner or owners shall not recover costs for the trial by jury. 
But if the said jury shall find the value of the land to be greater than 
the said committee shall have appraised the same at, the said corpora- 
tion shall be adjudged to pay the costs of the trial ; that the verdict of 
the jury being accepted and recorded by the court, the said corporation 
shall be entitled to have and to hold the land taken, on paying the 
value found by the jurj-, into court, with or without costs, as afore- 
said. 

Sect. 4. Be it further enacted, that the money paid into court shall 
be paid out to such person or persons as the court shall find to have 
been the lawful owners of the land taken by said corporation, or to the 
legal representatives of such owners, according to the respective rights 
which such owners or their legal I'epresentatives, shall make to appear 
to said court, and that said corporation shall pay the legal costs of such 
application to the court. 

Sect. 5. Be it further enacted, that when the said monument shall 
have been completed by the said corporation, the same shall be, 
together with all the lands purchased and then held by said corpora- 
tion, conveyed to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to be had and 
held by said Commonwealth, on the condition that the Commonwealth 
shall keep the said monument, and any buildings for public use con- 
nected therewith, in good repair forever. 



APPEXDIX D. 



173 



The purchases of land by the Association at this time, as given by 
Warren (p. 101), were as follows; 



Of Nathaniel Austin 
Timothy Walker 
Andrew Kettell 
Ephraim Frost 
Parnell Brooks 
Benjamin Adams 
Samuel Spring 
William Austin 
Heirs of Mary Beaman 
Dr. John C. Warren (Russell lot). 

Total 



Price. 

S5,U00 00 
4,500 00 
2,600 00 
2,200 00 
3,450 00 
1,000 00 
600 00 
400 00 
2,232 42 
1,250 00 

S23,232 42 



for which sum tlie Association obtained fifteen acres. The money was 
furnished, in advance of subscription, b}' a note on which twentv gentle- 
men, including Mr. Webster, Mr. George Blake, and Judge Prescott 
were sureties. 

Although neither the form nor the size of the Monument had been 
decided upon, it was thought best, in 1825, to la}' the corner-stone 
under such circumstances as should demonstrate that work had begun 
and should stimulate contributions towards its completion. Accordingly 
this was done on June 17, under the most auspicious surroundings. 
Gen. Lafayette being present as an honored guest, and Daniel Webster 
being the orator. 

The managers of the Association were long in doubt as to the best 
form for the proposed Monument. Man}- preferred a pillar ; but the 
subject was referred to a sub-committee composed of Daniel Webster, 
Gilbert Stuart, Washington Allstou, Loammi Baldwin, and George 
Ticknor. Four of this committee, on April 25, 1825, submitted a re- 
port, recommending the plan for an obelisk as proposed by Horatio 
Greenough. On the 7th of June the matter was disposed of finally, 
by the following order : — 

"Voted, That the form of an obelisk shall be adopted for the pro- 
posed Monument, or, in other words, a pyramidal structure such as may 
be hereafter asireed on." 



174 



HISTORY OF THE MOXUaiEXT. 



The estimate made July 1, 1825, was for an Obelisk, 220 feet high, 
on a square base of 30 feet, built of Chelmsford granite, to cost 
$100,000. 

The amount of mone}' collected to September 1 was $54,433.07 ; 
expenditures for land, laying corner-stone, engraving certificates, etc., 
amounted to §29,416.03, and the Directors voted to proceed with the 
erection of the building. Solomon "Willard was appointed superinten- 
dent, and to his unceasing and unselfish exertions, as much as to any 
other single cause, the eventual success of the enterprise was due. At 
the very outset he sought out and obtained the right to use the quarry 
at Quincy from which the stone was taken. His great knowledge and 
fertility of invention were brought into use at every step, and he con- 
sented to receive in payment only his bare expenses. 

After the auspicious beginning, however, the great enterprise seemed 
to lag. As too often happens in such affairs, not enough monej' was 
raised at the start to complete the undertaking, public interest waned, 
and subscriptions ceased. The Directors mortgaged the land, and the 
Building Committee, with this collateral, gave their individual notes for 
over §25,000. But in February, 1829, the order was given to suspend 
work when only fourteen courses of stone had been completed, raising 
the monument but 37 feet 4 inches. The expenditures by Mr. Willard 
amounted to §56,525.19. 

The following view taken from Snow's " Geography of Boston," pub- 
lished in 1830, gives an idea of its appearance at that time : — 




ArPEXDrx T). 11 o 

After several years' idleness, an arrangement was made with the Mas- 
sachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association of Boston, to take charge of 
the enterprise. Although the exact terms of this agreement do not seem 
to be recorded in G. W. Warren's Histor}-, the Legislative Report of 
1836 gives the essential point. It says that the Bunker Hill Association, 
by a formal vote, " authorized the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic 
Association to take the building of the Monument into their own hands, 
and to expend whatever money they had already collected, or there- 
after might collect in the building, and by their own committees, 
subject merely to a general supervision of the Executive Committee 
of the Bunker Hill IMonument Association." 

This cooperation is fully shown in the second form of Certificate 
issued to subscribers of Five Dollars. It is headed " By the Bunker 
Hill Monument Association, founded in 1823, and aided in 1833 in 
completing the original design, bv the Massachusetts Charitable 
Mechanic Association." 

Work was resumed under the charge of the Charitable Association 
on June 17, 1834, and continued until November, 1835. During this 
time eighteen more courses were laid, making the total height 85 feet, 
at a cost of over $20,421.17, of which about $16,000 was raised by 
this societj^ 

This episode is worthy of notice, as it breaks the continuous chain 
of services rendered bj' the Bunker Hill Monument Association, and 
also most strongly points out the almost insurmountable difficulties 
which that public-spirited societ}' had to encounter, and its freedom 
from any selfish or vain-glorious feelings. 

That the Mechanics' Association could not succeed, notwithstanding 
that it hold a public meeting in Faneuil Ilall, at which Daniel Webster 
appealed to the generosity of the city, is only an evidence of the magni- 
tude of the enterprise. In 1834 they reported that " the general 
depression, arising from the state of the country, lias been unfavorable 
to tiiese exertions." Unfortunately, business affairs progressed from 
bad to worse, and the panic of 1837 would certainly have proved fatal 
in any stage of the incomplete undertaking. 

The following cut, copied from the " American Magazine of Useful 
and Entertaining Knowledge," Vol. III., p. 402 (Boston, 1837), shows 
its appearance when progress was stopped for the second time : — 



170 



lirSTOKY OF THE MONUJIENT. 




VIEW OF THE ilONmrENT m 1837. 



APPEXDIX D. 177 

In 1836 an attempt was made to interest the State in the completion 
of the Monument. As supplementing the official account, the follow- 
ing Report to the Legislature will be found very interesting : — 



[^Columhiayi Ceniinel, Saturday, April 23, JS36.'\ 
[OFKICIAL.] 

BUNKEE-HILL MONUMENT. 



COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Senate, March 8, 1836. 
Ordered, That Messrs. Gray, Pai-mentcr and Fairbanks, with such 
as the House may join, be a Committee to consider the expediency 
of purchasing on behalf of the Commonwealth, the Battle Ground 
on Bunker Hill. Sent down for concurrence. 

CHAS. CALHOUN, Clerk. 

House of Representatives, April 9, 1836. 

Concurred ; and Messrs. Park of Boston, Hitchcock of South- 
bridge, Ruggles of Fall River, Lucas of Plymouth and Peabody 
of Salem are joined. 

L. S. CUSHING, Clerk. 

Senate, April 16, 1836. 

The Special Joint Committee appointed to consider the expediency 
of purchasing on behalf of the Commonwealth, the Battle Ground 
on Bunker-Hill, having attended to their duty, ask leave to report 
as follows : 

The Bunker-Hill Monument Association was incorporated by the 
statute of 1823, c. 1. An Additional Act was passed in the year 



178 IirSTOKT OF THE MONTnMEJfT. 

1826 (Stat, of 1825, c. 122,) extending in some respects the 
powers of the Association, and making to tliem on the part of the 
Commonwealtli a donation of two pieces of cannon, which had been 
employed in the war of tlie Revolution, and of labor in hammering 
stone to the value of $10,000, which last donation was subse- 
quently commuted into a grant of seven thousand dollars in money 
for the purpose of erecting a Monument. Under the provisions of 
these acts, the Association procured a tract of land, of the extent 
of about fifteen acres, comprising the greater portion of Breed's 
Hill, property so called, and containing the celebrated Redoubt. 
The Monument was commenced on the scite of this redoubt, in 
the year 1825, and has been since carried on with a long inter- 
ruption at one period, till it has reached the height of eighty feet, 
being a little more than one third of the height originally con- 
templated, though considering the extent and depth of the foun- 
dation, it is thought by the best judges that more than half of 
the work is accomplished. In the prosecution of this work, and 
other incidental expenses previous to the year 1829, the funds 
of the Association, including tlie donation of seven thousand dollars 
by the Commonwealth were exhausted, and a debt incurred to the 
amount of about thirty thousand dollars. It was proposed in the 
year 1831 to pay off the greater part of this debt by the sale 
of a large portion of the land of the Association, with the reser- 
vation, however, of the right of redemption. Accordingly the laud 
immediately round the Monument, to the extent of about four 
acres, was reserved by the Association to be forever kept open. 
The remainder of the field of fifteen acres, being nearly three- 
fourths of the whole, was sold to a company of individuals, to 
be laid out in streets and house lots, according to a specified 
plan. The sum received for this laud was twenty-five thousand 
dollars, which sum was faithfully appropriated to the reduction of 
the debt of the Association. 

Tlie indenture by which this sale was effected is dated October 
30, 1834. 

It contains several conditions, one of which authorizes the re- 
demption of the land at any time previous to the seventeenth day 



APPEXDIX D. 170 

of June, A.D. 1837, oa prepayment of the purchase monej' of 
$25,000, -n-ith interest. Of suck a redemption, however, the Asso- 
ciation entertain no hope. 

The public liave been twice appealed to with the greatest ear- 
nestness ; first, by the corporation itself, and more recently by the 
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. The members of 
this last named Association, more especially, have for the last two 
years exerted themselves to the utmost, both in the way of request 
and of example, to procure a sum sufficient for the completion 
of the Monument in the first instance, and in the next, for the 
redemption of the Land couvej'ed as above. AU that can be 
effected by individual liberality, and it should be added, all that 
could be reasonably expected from that source has been done, but 
without effecting the desired object. The Monument has been 
cai'ried, as above stated, to the height of eighty feet, and all 
expectation of completing it as originally contemplated, or even of 
carrying it to any height at which it could be properU' termi- 
nated, is for the present at an end. 

In a little more than a year from the present time the right 
of redeeming the land sold for house lots will espiie, and the 
land Avill be forthwith applied to private uses. 

Your committee have annexed to this Report a document con- 
taining a succinct and interesting history of the present condition 
of the Laud and Monument in question, being an extract from a 
report of the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Charitable 
Mechanic Association made early in January last. 

Under these circumstances your committee have good reason to 
believe that the Bunker-Hill Monument Association would readily 
convey, or cause to be conveyed to the Commonwealth, the Monu- 
ment together with the whole real estate heretofore purchased by 
the Association, on receiving a sum sufficient to redeem the por- 
tion of the land sold as above (being twenty-five thousand dollars) 
with interest from October 30, 18J4, and also pay of the remain- 
ing debt of the Corporation, being five thousand dollars with 
interest from the same period. For, although this last mentioned 
debt is not, strictly speaking a charge on the land, it would 



180 HISTORY OF THE MOXUMENT. 

ob^■iously be uujust in the Corporation to divest themselves of 
their property, without providing for its payment. 

The question, therefore, before the Legislature is simply this : 
"Will the Commonwealth purchase the whole laud in question, being 
fifteen acres, with the granite Monument of eighty feet in height, 
standing thereon, and the whole personal property of the Corpo- 
ration, provided the same can be procured for the sum of thirty 
thousand dollars, with interest from October 1834, making an 
amount of a little less than thirty-three thousand dollars? Your 
committee can conceive of but one proper answer to this question. 

It is, in their judgment, matter of serious regret, that the whole 
ground on which the battle of Bunker-Hill was fought, was not 
long since rendered the property of the Commonwealth, and that 
the right of purchasing and ornamenting any portion of that ever 
memorable spot, should ever have been relinquished by our public 
authorities to any other hands. Y'our committee do not deem it 
necessary to dilate on the many circumstances which rendered 
the battle of Bunker-Hill second in importance to none in our 
revolution. This has been often done with an ability and an 
eloquence which would render such an attempt on their part not 
ouly unnecessary-, but presumptuous. As little necessity cau there 
be for showing that the spot where so much was achieved for 
the glory of New-England and the independence of our country, 
must be an object of intense and increasing interest, not only to 
all Americans, but to all lovers of rational liberty thi'ough all 
future time. 

The deep feeling which the view of this spot must excite in 
the bosom of every reflecting observer is founded on the great 
principle of the Association of ideas, — a principle as prevalent 
and as powerful in the intellectual world as is that of gravitation 
in the physical. 

It is true that it is no longer practicable to procure and set 
apart from private uses the whole battle ground of Bunker-Hill. 

But it is in the power of the Commonwealth to acquire the 
control of a large portion of it, and that too, the portion most 
interesting to the citizens of our own State. The tract iu question 



APPEIfDIX D. 181 

is of more than one third the extent of the common in Boston, 
and forming as it does, the very crest of the Hill, furnishes to 
the spectator an unobstructed view of a great portion of the 
scenery of the environs. It is the portion of the original battle- 
ground where the Massachusetts troops were chiefly posted, and 
contains the remains of the redoubt where Prescott commanded 
and Warren fell. To preserve every portion of this tract from 
becoming a mere site for private dwelling-houses ; — to prevent the 
magnificent landscape visible from its summit from being obstructed 
by masses of brick or stone, are surely objects which the Com- 
monwealth will not hesitate to secure at a moderate and reason- 
able expense. For it might easily be shown that the laud which 
it is proposed to the Commonwealth to redeem is worth far more 
than the sum requisite for that purpose, if we could suppose that 
this spot could ever be regarded by the Legislature as mei'e 
property. But this is a supposition which your committee will uot 
allow themselves to entertain. 

AVhat further arrangement shall be made either with respect to 
the ground or the Monument is a question which maj' be safely 
left to the wisdom and magnanimity of future Legislatures, and 
on which your committee do not presume to offer auy suggestions. 
But they feel assured that should the tract in question become 
the property of the Commonwealth, it will be sacredly retained by 
those who succeed us as the inheritance of their fathers, and that 
the great events and noble deeds of which it has pleased Heaven 
to render it the scene, will effectually preserve every part of it 
from all common and ordinary uses. Your committee therefore 
hope that this interesting, it ought rather to be said, this hallowed 
spot, will be placed at once in the keeping of those to whom of 
all others it should belong — the people of this Commonwealth. 

Tbey conceive that no considerations of economy, — considera- 
tions which in their proper place and to a proper extent, are 
respected by none more than by your committee, ought to induce 
the Commonwealth to forego an opportunity which cannot be recalled 
and the loss of which may prove a source of deep and unavailing 
regret to every citizen of New-England in all succeeding times. 



182 HISTORY or THE MONUMENT. 

In conformity to the above suggestions, your committee respect- 
fully submit the subjoined Resolve : — 

JOHN C. GRAY, 
WM. PARMENTER, 
STEPHEN FAIRBANKS, 
JOHN C. PARK, 
SAM'L. A. HITCHCOCK, 
JOSEPH LUCAS, 
GEO. PEABODY. 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the year of our Lord one 
Thousand eight IIuu(h'ed and thirty-sis. 

A Resolve for purchasing a certain Tract of Land on Breed's 
Hill. 

Resolved, That the Governor be authorized to purchase, on be- 
half of the Commonwealth, all the land on Breed's Hill, heretofore 
purchased and held by the Bunker-Hill Monument Association ; 
together with the Monument standing thereon, and all the personal 
property of said corporation, provided that the same can be pro- 
cured, free of all incumbrance, for a sum not exceeding thirty-three 
thousand dollars ; provided also that a good and sufflcieut deed 
of conveyance of the whole of said real and personal property, 
without condition or restriction, be executed by the Bunlier-Hill 
Monument Association, and by all other persons and corporations, 
if any, who may be interested in any portion of said property 
at the time of such conveyance ; such deed to be delivered to 
the Governor on or before the seventeenth day of June next. 

Resolved, That the Governor be authorized to draw his warrant 
on the Treasury for any sum necessary to carry into effect the 
preceding Resolve. 



Extract referred to in the preceding Report : 

In presenting a report of the present condition of the Monument, 
and the state of the funds collected for the purpose of its com- 
pletion, it may not be impertinent to the occasion, to take a brief 
review of the proceedings of the Association in relation to that 
subject. 



APPE^^)IX D. 183 

111 the month of May, 1833, it was agreed, after mature de- 
liberation, and at a full meeting of this Association, to make an 
attempt to gather, by subscription, a sum of money sufficient to 
complete the Monument, and to relieve the battle ground on 
Bunker-Hill, from all incumbrances of a pecuniary nature. It was 
then understood, from the best information that could be obtained 
from the Bunker-Hill Monument Association, that the debt of that 
corporation was about $22,000 ; as security for this debt, the 
battle ground, with the exception of an oblong square, had been 
mortgaged to five gentlemen, who had become security for the 
payment of the sum before mentioned, to a Bank in this citj'. 
It was supposed at that time, that $.30,000 would be amply 
sufficient to discharge this debt, and to carry the Monument to 
the height of 220 feet, agreeably to tlie origiual plan. 

The Association appointed various committees to collect sub- 
scriptions, all of which entered upon the labor assigned them, with 
cheerfulness and industrj' ; the subscriptions were made on the 
condition, that the full sura of fifty thousand dollars should be 
raised, within a given time ; at the expiration of that limited 
time, it was found that only about 821,000 had been subscribed; 
a considerable portion of this amount had been subscribed in small 
sums, and paid to the committees, at the time of subscription. 
This money, from time to time, was placed as a special deposite 
in one of the banks in this city, the Directors of which allowed 
for it an interest of five per cent, during its continuance in the 
bank. 

In the meantime, it had been found by more strict investigation 
into the affairs of the Bunker-Hill Monument Association, and the 
expense of procuring and laying the materials of the Monument, 
that even the whole sum of $50,000, had it been collected, would 
have been insufficient for the purposes proposed ; the debt of the 
corporation, with the interest, already accumulated, amounted to 
about $30,000 ; and the calculations of the committee appointed 
to estimate the expense of completing the Monument, manifested 
beyond all doubt, that very erroneous impressions had existed in 
regard to the cost of labor, and transportation of material. 



184 HISTORY OF THE MONUJNIEXT. 

Difficulties seemed thus to accumulate at every step, and the 
Executive Committee began to feel somewhat disheartened ; but 
the desire of completing the Monument, and thus erecting an im- 
perishable memorial of the patriotism and virtue of their fathers, 
encouraged them to pursue their object with renewed zeal, and to 
devise means that should ensure success. 

A negotiation was then opened with the Bunker-Hill Monument 
Association, the details of which it would be tedious and useless to 
present in this report ; it is sufficient for the present purpose to state 
the result. The Bunker-Hill Monument Association, by a formal 
vote of the corporation, authorized the Massachusetts Charitable 
Mechanic Association, to take the building of the Monument into 
their own hands, and to expend whatever moneys they had already 
collected, or thereafter might collect, in the building, and by their 
own committees, subject merely to a general supervision of the 
Executive Committee of the Bunker-Hill Monument Association. 

It was also voted by that corporation, that the land then under 
mortgage, should be sold to discharge the debt due the bank, 
from which the loan was obtained, and thus relieve the Monument 
from all incumbrance. To effect this at the least possible sacrifice, 
it was proposed to open a subscription for fifty shares, at 500 
dollars each, the subscribers to be entitled to a lot for each share 
subscribed. This subscription, the committee understand, is now 
filled up — many of the gentlemen who subscribed the largest sums 
on the terms of the subscription offered in May, 1833, took these 
shares, with the understanding, that our Association would not 
demand of them the payment of the original subscription ; and as 
the original terms of subscription were such, that the paj'ment 
could not be enforced, (the sum of §50,000 not having been sub- 
scribed during the limited period,) it seemed that no other course 
was left to be adopted ; consequently, one subscription of $5000, 
another of 2000, several of 1000, and several others of 500 dollars, 
have never been paid to this Association, and are altogether un- 
available for the purpose of completing the Monument. 

Thus it will be seen by the Association, that after two years 
labor, and an expenditure of more than §20,000, the Monument 





VIEW OF THE MONUMEXT, AS rUOl'OSED IX 1S36. 



APPETsT)IX D. 185 

is uot much more than half finished, and it cannot in the opinion 
of your committee be raised to the height of 160 feet, short of 
about §25,000. 



In Senate, April 16, 1836. Referred to the nest General Court, 
and to be printed in the papers in which the laws of the Com- 
monwealth are published. 
Sent down for concurrence. 

CHAS. CALHOUN, Clerk. 
House of Representatives, April 16, 1836. Concurred. 

L. S. CUSHING, Clerk., 
A true copy — Attest, 

CHAS. CALHOUX, Clerk of the Senate. 

^g^ The Editors of the several newspapers whicli publish the laws of this 
Commonwealtli will please give the above Report one insertion. 



The accompanying view, copied from the title page of the "Bunker- 
Hill Quickstep," copyrighted in 1836 by H. Prentiss, is of interest 
as showing, like all the other views of earlier date, the design of 
the Monument, for which subscriptions were solicited. There is no 
indication of "a lodge," either of wood or granite, and the obelisk 
itself is evidently the only monument then contemplated. 

From 1836 to 1840, the prospects of the Association were indeed 
gloomy. The financial condition of the country was very bad, 
the panic causing failures which brought distress to all classes, in 
New England especially. The country was poor, to a degree which 
now seems incredible. Under these circumstances, after one or 
two renewals of time, the Association was obliged to abandon all 
Lopes of redeeming the ten acres of land which it had pledged, 
and was forced to content itself with preserving the five acres 
immediately surrounding the Monument. 

In 1840, however, began the final effort to collect funds, which 
happily resulted in success. The ladies of Boston and vicinity decided 



18G HISTOKY OP THE MOMTTMENT. 

to bold a fair in aid of the object in Faneuil Hall. Tbe committee 
in ebarge consisted of Mrs. Sarah. J. Hale, Mrs. Jonathan Chapman, 
Mrs. "William H. Prescott, Mrs. John C. Warren, Mrs. George 
Darracott, and Mrs. Thomas B. Wales. The Fair was opened 
Sept. 8, 1840, and lasted seven days ; the nett proceeds were 
§30,035.53. 

On the 10th of September, a Whig mass meeting was held at 
Bunker Hill. Daniel Webster, as President, marched on foot at 
the head of the great procession. The annexed view is from the 
frontispiece to the " Freemen's Quickstep " composed for the 
occasion by George Hews. It is said to be " sketched on the spot 
by W. Sharp" and printed by Sliarp, Michelin & Co. It is also 
inscribed — "as this print will remain long after all who beheld the 
brilliant spectacle shall have passed away, it may not be amiss 
to stamp upon it the interesting fact, that this same 10th of Sep- 
tember a Fair was held by Ladies in the City of Boston, for the 
purpose of obtaining funds for the completion of the Monument 
(which is here presented in its unfinished state). The object was 
entirely successful. This drawing was taken from Mr. Phipps' 
house. South East of the Monument, and represents the moment 
of time when the Cavalcade, having counter-marched, are about re- 
turning to the City, while a portion only of the Delegates on foot 
here have yet reached the hill." 

As already stated, the impetus given by the Fair was sufficient 
to carry the project to success. Besides the §30,000 thus raised, 
Amos Lawrence gave §10,000, Judah Touro gave §10,000, Messrs. 
Wales, Stone, and Bowditch, trustees, gave §1,500, A. L. Forestier 
gave §987, from Philadelphia came §794, Fanuj^ Elssler contributed 
$569, and small amounts brought the total to §55,153.27, and a 
nett sum remained of §47,189.54. 

A contract was accordingly made Nov. 4, 1840, with James 
S. Savage, " for the completion of the Monument to its full 
original height of 220 feet, for the sum of §43,800, the top to 
be finished according to a plan drawn by Mi. Walard, and the 
whole work to be done under his du-ection as architect." (War- 
ren's History, p. 304.) 



APPENDIX D. 1S7 

"On Saturday, July 23, 1842, at 6 o'clock in the moruiug, 
pursuant to public notice, the Directors and several hundred citi- 
zens assembled on Bunker Hill to witness the laying on of the 
top-stone upon the Monument. As the clock struck six a signal 
gun was fired by the members of the Charlestown Artillery, and 
the cap-stone, which had been pre\-iously adjusted to the hoisting 
apparatus connected with the steam-engine, immediately began to 
ascend. It was surmounted by the American flag. In sixteen 
minutes, the cap-stone reached the place of its destination on the 
top of the Monument. At half-past six, it was embedded in 
cement, and a national salute fired by the Charlestown Artillery 
announced the complete erection of the Monument." This extract 
from the Records of the Bunker Hill ilonument Association, 
printed in "Warren's History, p. 304, effectually disposes of any 
claim that the Monument is still unfinished. 

The formal ceremonies were held on Saturday, June 17, 1843, 
President Tyler and his cabinet being among the invited guests, 
and Daniel "Webster the orator at the completion, as he had 
been at the beginning of the work. The matchless orations on 
these two occasions are reprinted in Appendix E. 



After the completion of the Monument, a contract was made 
with Mr. Savage " under which he held possession of the Monu- 
ment, with the right to take the usual fees from visitors ; and 
for this privilege he laid a granite walk ten feet wide on each 
side of the Monument, erected an iron fence on the outer line 
of the same, and also laid a brick side-walk on the streets upon 
the four sides of the square." ("\7arreu's History, p. 340.) "The 
Secretary, as one of the Committee on the Fair, raised a sub- 
scription of $5,300 towards erecting the iron fence to enclose 
Monument Square, and the granite steps leading to it." About 
64,000 was spent in planting trees and ornamenting the grounds. 

In 1850, the seventy-fifth anniversary was celebrated, Edward 
Everett being the orator. In 1861, Governor Andrew presided at 



188 IlISTOKY OF THE MOXU^IENT. 

the ceremony of hoisting the national flag on the Monument. In 
1875, a centennial celebration was held under the auspices of the 
City Government of Boston, Charlestowu having been joined to 
that city in 1874. The orator ou this occasion was Gen. Charles 
Devens, whose eloquent address was published by the city. 

The Annual Meeting in 1881 was noteworthy on account of the 
dedication of the statue of Col. William Prescott, which, was placed 
in the grounds in front of the Monument. This statue, which is the 
worlv of W. ^Y. Story, was presented by a number of citizens, 
acting through Rev. George E. Ellis. The address, delivered in 
presence of Gov. Long and a distinguished body of guests, was by 
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop. 

The subsequent history of the Association is set forth in its 
Annual Reports. 

No one can desire for a moment to undervalue the great services 
of the original members of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, 
especially of the small number who were the directors and active 
officers from 1824 to 1843. But as these men have passed away, 
and as even then- labors ceased with the completion of the Monu- 
ment, the acts of their successors are to be ■\'iewed irrespective 
of the past of the Association. 

The original Association collected money from every source, and 
every contributor of five dollars became thereby a life member. 

We therefore pass from the time and the men who built the 
Monument, to the gentlemen who have since so Iviudly taliea upon 
them the duties of administering this great public trust. 

The constitution of the present Bunker Hill Monument Associa- 
tion is not very plainly set forth in any of its publications. Prior 
to 1843 the nominal membership was several hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, comprising every contributor of five dollars. According 
to the reports, " before 18(51 no new members had been admitted 
since 1834." It is understood, however, that out of the great 
number of nominal members, those resident in Boston and Charles- 
town kept up the form of electing officers annually. In ISGl 
there was a revival of interest, and members were again made on 
the payment of five dollars. From 18G1 to 1873, 110 members 



APPENDIX D. 189 

joined ; and up to the present year oG6 members seem to have 
been elected. It is believed that the Association holds only one 
meeting in the year, the work being carried on by the directors 
or committees. 

The printed reports give little information as to the finances 
prior to 18G1, but the receipts seem to have been about 82.700 a 
year. For the twenty-eight years from 1862 to 1889, the sum of 
$140,633.49 has been received from the tolls of 20 cents for adults, 
and 10 cents for children, levied upon all who ascended the Monu- 
ment. To this must be added the payments of 566 members, at 
$5 = $2,830, and some amounts for interest. 

The expenses have been for the care of the grounds and of the 
Monument, and the expenditures of the Association itself. It 
should be noted that the one item of printing the annual reports 
of the Association far exceeds the total of $2,830 paid in by the 
members, and consequently the public has had to contribute not 
only to the care of the Monument, but to the preservation of the 
soeietj'. 

After all the expenditures there has remained a surplus, which 
has been allowed to accumulate, with the intent of building a stone 
lodge for the use of the society, and the preservation of such relics 
as it may possess. This sum is about 815,000. 

The natural result of the position taken by the officials of the 
Association adverse to the wishes of the City Council, was to lead 
to a scrutiny into the rights of all parties, especially of the citizens 
in general. The following order was passed : — 



" In Board op Aldermen, May 31, 1889. 

Ordered, That the Committee on Bunker Hill Tablets be requested 
to report the cost, method, and advisability of laying out Monu- 
ment square, Charlestown, as a public park. 

Referred to Committee on Bunker HUl Tablets. 

E. U. CUETIS, 

City Cleric." 



190 HISTORY OF TIIE MOXLTMENT. 

The result was a report (City Doc. 1889, No. Ill), from -which 
the f oUowiug extracts are taken : — 

REPORT. 

In the discharge of the duties imposed upon your committee by 
the foregoing order, they sent through their chaLrman the following 
inquiries to the Corporation Counsel : — 

CiTT Hall, Boston, June 7, 1889. 
James B. Richardson, Esq., Corporalion Counsel: — 

Dear Sir, — The committee of which I am ch,airm.an has been instructe.1 
to reijort upon the metliod, cost, and advisability of taking, for the purposes 
of a public park, the land in Charlestown known as Monument square. I 
desire, therefore, to have your opinion on the following points : — 

1. Is the fee of the land in the Bunker Hill Monument Association, a 
corporation established by Chap. 1 of Acts of 1823, and Chap. 122 of Acts 
of 1824? 

2. Has said corporation been released from the provisions of Sect. 5 of 
the said Chap. 122 of Acts 1824? If not, is the fee in the Commonwealth, 
although no conveyance of the land has been made to it? 

3. In either case, does the land come within the provisions of the acts 
establishing Public Parks in Boston, and can the Commissioners proceed to 
take sucli land, by " purchase or otherwise," if they deem it desirable? 

4. In case the fee is in the said Association, wliat would be the measure of 
damages (not the amount), in your opinion, due regard being had to the 
language of the acts under which said Association has obtained the lauil? 

5. In case the city took the land for a public p.ark, would it be com- 
petent for it also to assume the care and maintenance of the Monument, 
statues, etc., now standing thereon, and would it be lawful for the city to 
pay to the said Association, for an amicable settlement of any presumed 
rights, a sum of money to be used by said Association in continuing its 
organization and talking charge of the relics intrusted to it by the St;ite or 
by individuals? 

I shall be obliged if you will reply at your earliest convenience, in order 
that the committee may make its report in season to allow of any desired 
action thereon, and remain 

Yours very truly, 

R. y. STACEY, 
CJiainiian Co/it. B. II. Tahleis. 



APPENDIX T>. 191 

At that time the Committee supposed, in common with all other 
citizens, that the Bunker Hill Monument Association was iu lawful 
possession of Monument square, and that the city would have to 
deal with that society in order to obtain the land for a public 
park. 

The reply of Mr. Richardson was as follows : — 



Office op the Corpokation Couxsel, 

June 22, 1889. 

Hon. B. F. Stacey, CJiairman Committee on Bunker Jlill Tablets : — 

Deak Sir, — In reply to your request for information concerning the title 
to the lands known as " Jlonument square," in the Charlestowu district of 
the City of Boston; and as to whether the city has a right to purchase or 
take said land for the purposes of a public park; and, if taken, the meas- 
ure of damages tlierefor ; and whether it would be competent for tlie city to 
enter into an obligation for the care of the Monument and relics intrusted 
to the Association by the State and others, — I have the honor to s-iy, 
that I find, upon an examination made by Mr. Day of this oflSce, in the 
records of titles to lands in the registries of deeds for the Counties of 
Suffolk and Middlesex, that the fee of said land in Monument square appears 
to be in the Bunker Hill Monument Association; but, by Sect. 6 of Chap. 
122 of the Special Acts of the General Court for the year 1824, in an act 
entitled " An Act to aid the Bunker Hill Monument Association," it was pro- 
vided that " when the said Monument shall have been completed by the said 
corporation, the same shall be, together with all the land purchased and then 
held by said corporation, conveyed to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
to be had and held by said Commonwealth on the condition that the Com- 
monwealth shall keep the said Jlonument and any buildings for public use 
connected therewith, in good repair forever." 

The Monument, according to general historical evidence, was completed in 
1843, and tlie event was celebrated on the 17th of June of that year. 

I ought, perhaps, to state that it appears that, " in lieu of the provision 
in favor of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, made and provided " in 
said Chap. 122 of the Acts of 1S24, " the sum of seven thousand dollars in 
money" was authorized, by Chap. 78 of tlie Resolves of the General Court 
of the year 1827, to be paid by the treasurer of the Commonwealth to said 
Bunker Hill Monument Association. 

We do not find on said records any conveyance by said Association to the 
Commonwealth of said Jlouumeut or laud, as provided by said act of 1824 ; 



192 HISTOKY OF THE MOXTJMEXT. 

nor do we find that any release of said obligation to so convey it has been 
made or given by the Commonwealth to said Association. I am informed 
that said Association claims that " they have not finished its original design, 
the erection on the grounds, as one of the appurtenances connected with the 
Monument, the granite lodge for statues, and for a museum of revolutionary 
relics connected with the battle." 

I think that the fee in the land comprising said square is in the said 
Association, but subject to said obligation of said Association, to convey it, 
with tlie Monument, to the Commonwealth, if said Monument now is, or 
whenever it is, completed. Further replying to your inquiries, I think that 
the city has the power to acquire said land by purchase for the purposes of 
a public park; but I do not tliink that tlie city has the power, at the pres- 
ent time, without further authority from the Legislature, to take said land 
for park purposes, under the right of eminent domain. It is therefore not 
necessary, at the present time, to undertake to state what the measure of 
damages of such a taking might be. 

In ease the city acquires title to the land by purchase, or in any other 
way, when authorized, I do not see any objection to tlie city entering into 
an obligation for the care of the Monument, relics, and other property con- 
nected therewith, such obligation being considered as part compensation for 
the land. 

Very respectfully yours, 

JAMES B. EICIIARDSON, 

Corporation Counsel. 



Your committee understand, from the necessarily guarded opinion 
of the Corporation Counsel, that the charter of the Association, 
in 1825, expressly stipulated that the Monument and lands adja- 
cent -n-ere to be turned over to the Commouvrealth on the 
completion of the Monument. This intent was fully set forth in 
the message of Governor Eustis in that year, as -n'ell as in the 
act itself. It is also beyond question that, in the common sense 
of the words, the Monument was finished in 18-13. "Webster's 
glorious oration bears on its title, " Delivered at Bunker Hill June 
17, 1843, on the Completion of the Monument." One of the 
well-known sentences of that address is as follows : — 

"The Bunker IliU Monument is finished. Here it stands. For- 
tiniate in the high natural eminence o:\ which it is placed, — 



APPENDIX D. 193 

higher, infinitely higher in its objects and purpose, it rises over 
the land and over the sea, and visible at their homes to three 
hundred thousand of the people of Massachusetts, it stands a 
memorial of the last, and a monitor to the present and to all 
succeeding generations." 

Your committee has been unable to discover the reasons which 
prevented the formal transfer of the Monument at that date, in 
accordance with the law. It may easUy be seen, however, that 
in 1843 the want of a public park in Charlestown had not been 
felt. The care of the Monument and the grounds was a burden, 
which, though really light, may have seemed heavy to our legis- 
lators. Very probably, also, the provisions of the charter, 
already eighteen years old, had passed out of mind. That the 
result of this neglect to make a conveyance to the State has 
been for awhile beneficial, no one will deny. If the State had 
taken title in 1843 it is not improbable that some part of the 
land might have passed into private hands. 

Believing that the time has come when the public interest 
demands that the Commonwealth should assert its rights and 
assume its duties, your committee feel that no hardship is done 
to the members of the Association. For forty-five years the 
Association has mistakenly assumed and rigorously exercised the 
rights of ownership over five acres of land in the heart of a 
city, and over the most noted monument in the country. Its 
administration of the land has not been to the satisfaction of 
the citizens of Charlestown, who desired a freedom and an 
accommodation entirely incompatible with the interests of the 
Association. As the land was the cause only of expense, and 
the Monument was the only source of revenue, it was natural 
and proper that visitors should be encouraged mainly to the 
latter object. 

But the time has come when the public needs are great and 
pressing. Public parks have become a necessity, and Charlestown 
is peculiarly unfortunate as lacking vacant land within its bound- 



194 HISTORY OF THE MOXtUIEXT. 

aries which could be applied to this purpose. The only spot 
heretofore suggested lies at the very extremity of its limits. It 
was this urgent need which led to the offering of the order 
under which your committee has acted. For the past ten years 
or more the desire of the residents of Charlestown has been to 
have these five acres, so admirably situated for a local park, 
thrown open to the public on the same conditions as the Public 
Garden and the other smaller public grounds are. 

And now that it has become manifest that for forty-five years 
the public has been kept out of its own, either by a misunder- 
standing or a legal technicality, it is certain that the public 
hopes must be fulfilled and the public rights asserted and secured. 
The care of the Monument itself is at a merely nominal cost ; 
the expense of taking care of the grounds and of providing the 
necessary police attendance will be felt neither by the State nor 
by the city. 

Another gain, by no means insignificant, will result from the 
assertion by the Commonwealth of its rights in this land. For 
forty-five years visitors have been obliged to pay a toll, by no 
means merely nominal, for ascending the Monument. This has 
been held up as a reproach to us, especially as a large propor- 
tion of the visitors were not our citizens. The Association was 
not to blame, as it had no other source of revenue. It was the 
result of the unfortunate blunder which left the Monument in 
private hands, that a tax or toll was inevitable. But the reputation 
of the Commonwealth has suffered thereby. 

Your committee feel that the result of the present fulfilment of 
the law will be, a free Monument for the country, and a free 
jDark for the citizens of Boston and all visitors. They are advised 
that the proper step to be taken is, for the Governor to demand, 
in behalf of the Commonwealth, a conveyance from the Bunker 
Hill Monument Association of the Monument itself, and of all 
the land owned by the Association, on June 17, 1843, at which 
date the Monument was completed, on the evidence of Daniel 
"Webster. 



APPEXDIX D. 195 

As the City of Boston is so greatly interested in tliis measure, 
it seems proper that the City Council should officially call the 
attention of the Governor to these facts, and, moreover, to 
render any assistance which it can give. 

Your committee therefore recommend the passage of the an- 
nexed orders. 

Eespectfully submitted, 

BENJAMIN F. STAGEY, 
ALBERT A. FOLSOM, 
HOMER ROGERS, 
THOMAS F. KEENAN, 
WILLIAM H. OAKES, 
FRANK E. BAGLEY, 
ISRAEL F. PIERCE, 
WILLIAM J. DOHERTY, 

Committee. 

" Ordered, That His Honor the Mayor be, and he hereby is, 
requested, in behalf of the City of Boston, to respectfully repre- 
sent to his Excellency the Governor, that by law the Bunker 
Hill Monument Association was bound to convej' to the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts the Monument when completed, 
together with all the land purchased and then held by said cor- 
poration; that the Monument was completed on June 17, 1843, 
and that the public welfare requires that the Commonwealth 
should now make a demand for an immediate transfer of the 
property. 

Ordered, That His Honor the Mayor be, and he hereby is, author- 
ized to tender to the Governor, in case the Commonwealth shall 
obtain possession of the Monument and land, the assistance of 
any and all of the departments and officers of the city, free of 
expense, in the care and maintenance of such laud and building 
until the first day of March, A.D. 1890, or until the Legislat- 
ure shall have sooner provided for such charge." 

This report was accepted and the order passed, in Common 
Council, June, 27, 1889, in Board of Aldermen, July 1, and approved 



196 



HISTORY or THE MONUMENT. 



by Mayor Hart, July 2. The copy of the orders was promptly 
forwarded to Gov. Ames, and by him referred to the Attorney- 
General, whose report had not been made at the date of the com- 
pletion of this review. 




Ffc 




BIAGRAM OF MONUMENT. FKOM WILLAED'S MEMORIAL. 



APPENDIX E. 



AN ADDRESS^ 



DELIVERED AT 



THE LAYING OF THE COMER-STONE 

OF TUE 

BUNKER HILL MONUMENT, 

JUNE 17TH, 1825. 
By DANIEL WEBSTER. 



This uncounted multitude before me, and around me, proves tlie 
feeling wliich the occasion has excited. These thousands of human 
faces, glowing with sympathy and joy, and, from the impulses of 
a common gratitude, turned reverently to heaven, iu this spacious 
temple of the firmament, proclaim that the day, the place, and the ' 
purpose of our assembling have made a deep impression on our 
hearts. 

If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit to affect the 
mind of man, we need not strive to repress the emotions which 
agitate us here. We are among the sepulchres of our fathers. 

1 It seemed moat appropriate and desirable to reprint in tlais volume tlio two well-known and 
admirable orationa delivered by Daniel Webster, respectively at the Laying of the Comer-Stoue 
of the Monument, and at its Completion. These orations have become classics, and many of his 
sentences are still the delight and instruction of our youth. But in their complete form they are 
not eaaily attainable, certainly not by the majority of our citizens. 

Permission to print these orations in this memorial volume only was kindly given by the 
courtesy of the owners of the copyright, and is grat^'fully acknowledged by the Committee. 

In the Appendix which treats of the history of the Monument, a full account will be found 
of the proceedings attending the delivery of these Addresses. "W". II. AV. 



198 avebster's oratiox. 

"We are on ground distinguished by their valor, their constancy, 
and the shedding of their blood. We are here, not to fix an 
uncertain date in our annals, nor to draw into notice an obscure 
and unknown spot. If our humble purpose had never been con- 
ceived, if we ourselves had never been born, the 17th of June, 
1775, would have been a day on which all subsequent history would 
have poured its light, and the eminence where we stand a point 
of attraction to the eyes of successive generations. But we are 
Americans. We live in what may be called the early age of this 
great continent ; and we know that our posterity, through all time, 
are here to suffer and enjoy the allotments of humanity. We see 
before us a probable train of great events ; we know that our 
own fortunes have been happily cast ; and it is natural, therefore, 
that we should be moved by the contemplation of occurrences 
which have guided our destiny before manj' of us were born, and 
settled the condition iu which we should pass that portion of our 
existence which God allows to men on earth. 

We do not read even of the discovery of this continent without 
feeling something of a personal interest in the event ; without being 
reminded how much it has affected our own fortunes and our own 
existence. It is more impossible for us, therefore, than for others, 
to contemplate with unaffected minds that interesting, I may say, 
that most touching and pathetic scene, when the great discoverer 
of America stood on the deck of his shattered bark, the shades 
of night falling on the sea, yet no man sleeping ; tossed on the 
billows of an unknown ocean, yet the stronger billows of alternate 
hope and despair tossing his own troubled thoughts ; extending 
forward his harassed frame, straining westward his anxious and 
eager eyes, till Heaven at last granted him a moment of rapture 
and ecstasy, iu blessing his ^'ision with the sight of the unknown 
world. 

Nearer to our times, more closely connected with our fates, and 
therefore still more interesting to our feelings and affections, is 
the settlement of our own country by colonists from England. 
We cherish every memorial of these worthy ancestors ; we celebrate 
their patience and fortitude ; we admire theii- daring enterprise ; 



APPEXDIX E. 199 

■we teach our children to venerate their piety ; and we are justly 
proud of being descended from men who have set the world an 
example of founding civil institutions on the great and united 
principles of human freedom and human knowledge. To us, their 
children, the story of their labors and sufferings can never be 
without its interest. We shall not stand unmoved on the shore 
of Plymouth while the sea continues to wash it ; nor will our 
brethren in another early and ancient colony forget the place of 
its first establishment tUl their river shall cease to flow bj' it. 
No vigor of youth, no maturity of manhood, will lead the nation 
to forget the spots where its infancy was cradled and defended. 

But the great event, in the history of the continent, which we 
are now met here to commemorate ; that prodigy of modern times, 
at once the wonder and the blessing of the world, is tlie American 
Revolution. In a day of extraordinary prosperity and happiness, 
of high national honor, distinction, and power, we are brought 
together, in this place, bj' our love of country, by our admiration 
of exalted character, by our gratitude for signal service and patriotic 
devotion. 

The Society, whose organ I am, was formed for the purpose of 
rearing some honorable and durable monument to the memory of 
the early friends of American Independence. They have thought 
that for this object no time could be more propitious, than the 
present prosperous and peaceful period ; that no place could claim 
preference over this memorable spot ; and that no day could be 
more auspicious to the undertaking, than the anniversary of the 
battle which was here fought. The foundation of that Monument 
we have now laid. "With solemnities suited to the occasion, with 
prayers to Almighty God for his blessing, and in the midst of 
this cloud of witnesses, we have begun the work. VTe trust it 
wUl be prosecuted ; and that springing from a broad foundation, 
rising high in massive soliditj' and unadorned grandeur, it may 
remain, as long as Heaven permits the works of man to last, a 
fit emblem, both of the events in memory of which it is raised, 
and of the gratitude of those who have reared it. 

"We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious actions is most 



200 "Webster's oratiox. 

safely deposited in the universal remembrance of mankind. We 
know that if we could cause this structure to ascend, not only 
till it reached the skies, but till it pierced them, its broad surfaces 
could still contain but part of that which, in an age of knowledge, 
hath already been spread over the earth, and which history charges 
itself with making known to all future times. We know that no 
inscription on entablatures less broad than the earth itself, can 
carry information of the events we commemorate where it has not 
already gone ; and that no structure which shall not outlive the 
duration of letters and knowledge among men, can prolong the 
memorial. But our object is, by this edifice, to show our own 
deep sense of the value and importance of the achievements of 
our ancestors ; and, by presenting this work of gratitude to the 
eye, to keep alive similar sentiments, and to foster a constant 
regard for the principles of the Revolution. Human beings are 
composed not of reason only, but of imagination also, and senti- 
ment ; and that is neither wasted nor misapplied, which is appro- 
priated to the purpose of giving right direction to sentiments, and 
opening proper springs of feeling in the heart. Let it not be 
supposed that our object is to perpetuate national hostility, or even 
to cherish a mere military spirit. It is higher, purer, nobler. 
We consecrate our work to the spirit of national independence, 
and we wish that the light of peace may rest upon it forever. 
We rear a memorial of our conviction of that unmeasured benefit 
which has been conferred on our own laud, and of the happy influ- 
ences which have been produced, by the same events, on the general 
interests of mankind. We come as Americans to mark a spot 
which must forever be dear to us and our posterity. We wish 
that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his eye hither, may 
behold that the place is not undistinguished, wliere the first great 
battle of the Revolution was fought. AVe wish that this structure 
may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event, to every 
class and every age. We wish that infancy may learn the purpose 
of its erection from maternal lips, and that wearj' and withered 
age may behold it, and be solaced by the recollections which it 
suggests. We wish that labor may look up here, and be proud 



APPENDIX E. 201 

ia the midst of its toil. We wisli tliat, in those days of disaster, 
which, as they come ou all nations, must be expected to come on 
us also, desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and 
be assured that the foundations of our national power still stand 
strong. We wish that this column, rising towards heaven among 
the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to God, may con- 
tribute also to produce, in all minds, a pious feeling of dependence 
and gratitude. AVe wish. Anally, that the last object on the siglit 
of him who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden liis 
who revisits it, may be something which shall remind him of the 
liberty and the glory of his countrj'. Let it rise till it meets the 
sun in his coming ; let the earliest light of the morning gild it, 
and partiug day linger and play on its summit. 

AVe live in a most extraordinary age. Events so various and 
so important that they might crowd and distinguish centuries are, 
in our limes, compressed within the compass of a single life. 
AVhen has it happened that history has Lad so much to record, 
in the same term of years, as since the ITtli of June, 1775? Our 
own Revolution, which, under other circumstances, might itself have 
been expected to occasion a war of half a century, has been 
achieved ; twenty-four sovereign and independent States erected ; 
and a general government established over them, so safe, so wise, 
so free, so practical, that we might well wonder its establishment 
should have been accomplished so soon, were it not far the greater 
wonder that it should have been established at all. Two or three 
millions of people have been augmented to twelve ; and the great 
forests of the AVest prostrated beneath the arm of successful indus- 
try ; and the dwellers on the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi, 
become the fellow-citizens and neighbors of those who cultivate 
the hills of New England. AYe have a commerce that leaves no 
sea unexplored ; navies which take no law from superior force ; 
revenues, adequate to all the exigencies of government, almost 
without taxation ; and peace with all nations, founded on equal 
rights and mutual respect. 

Europe, within the same period, has been agitated by a mighty 
revolution, which, while it has been felt in the individual condition 



202 Webster's okatiox. 

and happiness of almost every man, has shaken to the centre her 
political fabric, and dashed against one another thrones which had 
stood tranquil for ages. On this, our continent, our own example 
has been followed ; and colonies have sprung up to be nations. 
Unaccustomed sounds of liberty and free government have reached 
us from beyond the track of the sun ; and, at this moment, the 
dominion of European power, in this continent, from the place 
where we stand to the south pole, is annihilated forever. 

In the meantime, both in Europe and America, such has been 
the general progress of knowledge ; such the improvements in 
legislation, in commerce, in the arts, in letters, and, above all, in 
liberal ideas, and the general spirit of the age, that the whole 
world seems changed. 

Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint abstract of the 
things which have happened since the day of the battle of Bunker 
Hill, we are but fifty years removed from it ; and we now stand 
here to enjoy all the blessings of our own condition, and to look 
abroad on the brightened prospects of the world, while we hold 
still among us some of those who were active agents in the scenes 
of 1775, and who are now here, from every quarter of New 
England, to visit, once more, and under circumstances so affecting, — 
I had almost said so overwhelming, — this renowned theatre of their 
courage and patriotism. 

Vexeraule men ! j'ou have come down to us from a former 
generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened out your lives that 
you might behold this joj'ous day. You are uow where you 
stood, fifty years ago this ver}' hour, with your brothers aud your 
neighbors, shoulder to shoulder, in the strife for your country. 
Behold, how altered ! The same heavens are indeed over your 
heads ; the same ocean rolls at your feet ; but all else how changed ! 
You hear now no roar of hostile cannon, you see no mixed 
volumes of smoke and flame rising from burning Charlestowu. 
The ground strewed with the dead aud the dyiug ; the impetuous 
charge ; the steady and successful repulse ; the loud call to repeated 
assault ; the summoning of all that is manly to repeated resistance ; 
a thousand bosoms freel}' aud fearlessly bared in an instant to 



APPENDIX E. 203 

whatever of terror there may be in war and death ; — all these 
3'ou have witaessed, but you witness them uo more. All is peace. 
The heights of yonder metropolis, its towers aud roofs, which j-ou 
then saw fiUed with wives and children and countrymen in distress 
and terror, and looking with unutterable emotions for the issue of 
the combat, have presented you to-day with the siglit of its whole 
happy population, come out to welcome and greet you with an 
universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships, by a felicity of position 
appropriately lying at the foot of this mount, aud seeming 
foudly to cling around it, are not means of annoj'auce to j'ou, 
but your country's own means of distinction and defence. All is 
peace ; and God has granted you thiis sight of your country's 
happiness, ere you slumber in the grave forever. He has allowed 
you to behold and to partalie the reward of your patriotic toils ; 
and he has allowed us, 3'our sons and countrymen, to meet you 
here, aud iu the name of the present generation, in the name of 
your country, in the name of liberty, to thank you ! 

But, alas ! you are not all here ! Time aud the sword have 
thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark, Brooks, Read, 
Pomeroy, Bridge ! our eyes seek for you iu vain amidst this broken 
band. You are gathered to your fathers, and live only to your 
country iu her grateful remembrance and your own bright example. 
But let us not too much grieve that you have met the common 
fate of men. You lived at least long enough to know that your 
work had been nobly and successfully accomplished. You lived 
to see your country's independence established, and to sheathe 
your swords from war. On the light of Liberty you saw arise 
the Light of Peace, like 

" another morn, 
Bisen on raid-noon; " — 

and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless. 

But — ah! — Him! the first great Martyr in this great cause! 
Him ! the premature victim of his own self-devodag heart ! Him ! 
the head of our civU councils aud the destined leader of our 



20-1: Webster's oeatiox. 

military bands ; whom nothing brought hither but the unquenchable 
fire of his own spirit. Him ! cut off by Providence, in the hour 
of overwhelming anxiety and thiclv gloom ; falling ere he saw the 
star of his country rise ; pouring out his generous blood like 
water, before he knew whether it would fertilize a land of freedom 
or of bondage ! How shall I struggle with the emotions that stifle 
the utterance of thy name ! — Our poor work may perish ; but 
thine shall endure ! This monument may moulder away ; the solid 
ground it rests upon may siulc down to a level with the sea ; but 
thy memory shall not fail ! Wheresoever among men a heart shall 
be found that beats to the transports of patriotism and liberty, 
its aspirations shall be to claim kindred with thy spirit ! ' 

But the scene amidst which we stand does not permit us to 
confine our thoughts or our sympathies to those fearless spirits 
who hazarded or lost their lives on this consecrated spot. We 
have the happiness to rejoice here in the presence of a most 
worthy representation of the survivors of the whole Revolutionary 
Army. 

Veterans ! you are the remnant of many a well-fought field. 
You bring with you marks of honor from Trenton and Monmouth, 
from Yorktown, Camden, Bennington, and Saratoga. Veterans 
OP HALF A CENTURY ! wheu iu your youthful days j-ou put every- 
thing at hazard in your country's cause, good as that cause was, 
and sanguine as youth is, still your fondest hopes did not stretch 
onward to an hour like this ! At a jDeriod to which you could 
not reasonably have expected to arrive ; at a moment of national 
prosperity such as you could never have foreseen, j'ou are now 
met here to enjoy the fellowship of old soldiers, and to receive 
the overfiowings of an universal gratitude. 

But your agitated countenances aud your heaving breasts inform 
me that even this is not an unmixed joy. I perceive that a 
tumult of contending feelings rushes upon you. The images of 
tiie dead, as well as the persons of the living, tlu'oug to your 
embraces. The scene overwhelms you, and I turn from it. JMay 

1 Gen. Joseph Warren, born at Roxbury, Mass., June 11, 1741. Killed June 17, 1775. — W. H. W. 



APPENDIX E. 2()o 

the Father of all mercies smLle upon your declining years and bless 
them ! And when you shall here have exchanged j'our embraces ; 
when you shall once more have pressed the hands which have been 
so often extended to give succor in adversity, or grasped in the 
exultation of victor}*, then look abroad into this lovely laud, wiiieb 
your young valor defended, and mark the happiness with whicli it 
is filled ; yea, look abroad into the whole earth, and see what a 
name you have contributed to give to your country, and what a 
praise you have added to freedom, and theu rejoice iu the sympathy 
and gratitude which beam upon your last days from the improved 
condition of mankind. 

The occasion does not require of me any particular account of 
the battle of the 17th of June, nor any detailed narrative of the 
events which immediately preceded it. These are familiarly known 
to all. In the progress of the great and interesting controversy, 
Massachusetts and the town of Boston had become early and 
marked objects of the displeasure of the British Parliament. This 
had been manifested in the Act for altering the Government of 
the Province, and in that for shutting up the Port of Boston. 
Nothing sheds more honor on our early history, and nothing better 
shows how little the feelings and sentiments of tlie colonies were 
known or regarded in England, than the impression which these 
measures everywhere produced in America. It had been antici- 
pated that while the other colonies would be terrified by tlie 
severitj' of the punishment inflicted on Massachusetts, the other 
seaports would be governed by a mere spirit of gain ; aud that 
as Boston was now cut off from all commerce, the unexpected 
advantage which this blow on her was calculated to confer on 
other towns, would be greedily enjoyed. IIow miserably such 
reasoaers deceived themselves ! How little they knew of the deptli, 
and the strength, and the intenseness of that feeling of resistance 
to illegal acts of power which possessed the whole American people ! 
Everywhere the unworthy boon was rejected with scorn. The 
fortunate occasion was seized, everywhere, to show to tlie whole 
world that the colonies were swayed by no local interest, no partial 
interest, no selfish interest. The temptation to profit by the pun- 



206 Webster's oration. 

isbment of Boston was strongest to our neighbors of Salem. Yet 
Salem was precisely the place where this miserable proffer was 
spurned in a tone of the most lofty self-respect and the most 
indignant patriotism. "We are deeply affected," said its inhabi- 
tants, "with the sense of our public calamities; but the miseries 
that are now rapidly hastening on our brethi'en in the capital of 
the Pro\'ince greatly excite our commiseration. By shutting up 
the port of Boston, some imagine that the course of trade might 
be turned hither, and to our benefit ; but we must be dead to 
every idea of justice, lost to all feelings of humanity, could we 
indulge a thought to seize ou wealth, and raise our fortunes on 
the ruin of our suffering neighbors." These noble sentiments were 
not confined to our immediate vicinity. In that day of general 
affection and brotherhood, the blow given to Boston smote on every 
patriotic heart, from one end of the country to the other. Virginia 
and the Carolhias, as well as Connecticut and New Hampshire, 
felt and j)roclaimed the cause to be their own. The Continental 
Congress, then holding its first session in Philadelphia, expressed 
its sympathy for the suffering inhabitants of Boston, and addresses 
were received from all quarters assuring them that the cause was 
a common one, and should be met by common efforts and common 
sacrifices. The Congress of Massachusetts responded to these 
assurances ; and in an address to the Congress at Philadelphia, 
bearing the official signature, j)erhaps among the last, of the immortal 
Warren, notwithstanding the severity of its suffering and the mag- 
nitude of the dangers which threatened it, it was declared, that 
this colony " is ready at all times to spend and to be spent in 
the cause of America." 

But the hour drew nigh which was to put professions to the 
proof, and to determine whetlier the authors of these mutual 
pledges were ready to seal them in blood. The tidings of Lex- 
ington and Concord had no sooner spread, than it was universally 
felt that the time was at last come for action. A spirit per- 
vaded all ranks, not transient, not boisterous, but deep, solemn, 
determined, 

" totaraque infiisa per artus 
Mens agitat molem, et miigno se corpore mUcet." 



APPEN'DIX E. 207 

"War. on their own soil and at their own doors, was, indeed, a 
strange work to the yeomanry of New England ; but their con- 
sciences were convinced of its necessity, their country called them 
to it, and they did not withhold themselves from the perilous trial. 
The ordinary occupations of life were abandoned ; the plough was 
stayed in the unfinished furrow ; wives gave up their husbands, and 
mothers gave up their sons, to the battles of a civil war. Death 
might come, in honor, on the field; it might come, in disgrace, on 
the scaffold. For either and for both they were prepared. The 
sentiment of Quincy was full in their hearts. " Blandishments," 
said that distinguished son of genius and patriotism, '■ will not 
fascinate us, nor will threats of a halter intimidate ; for, under 
God, we are determined, that wheresoever, whensoever, or howso- 
ever we shall bQ called to make our exit, we will die free men." 

The 17th of June saw the four New England colonies standing 
here, side by side, to triumph or to fall together ; and there was 
with them from that moment to the end of the war, what I hope 
will remain with them forever, one cause, one country, one heart. 

The battle of Bunker Hill was attended with the most important 
effects beyond its immediate results as a military engagement. It 
created at once a state of open public war. There could now 
be no longer a question of proceeding against individuals, as guilty 
of treason or rebellion. That fearful crisis was past. The appeal 
now lay to the sword ; and the only question was, whether the 
spirit and the resources of the people would hold out till the 
object should be accomplished. Nor were its general consequences 
confined to our own country. The previous proceedings of the 
colonies, their appeals, resolutions, and addresses, had made their 
cause known to Europe. "Without boasting, we may say, that in 
no age or country has the public cause been maintained with 
more force of argument, more power of illustration, or more of 
that persuasion which excited feeling and elevated principle can 
alone bestow, than the revolutionary State papers exhibit. These 
papers will forever deserve to be studied, not only for the spirit 
which they breathe, but for the abUity with which they were 
written. 



208 webstek's okatiok. 

To this able vindicatioii of their cause, the colonies had now 
added a practical and severe proof of their own true devotion to 
it, and evidence also of the power which they could bring to its 
support. All now saw that if America fell, she would not fall 
without a struggle. Men felt sympathy and regard, as well as 
surprise, when they beheld these infant States, remote, unknown, 
unaided, encounter the power of England, and in the first con- 
siderable battle, leave more of their enemies dead on the field, 
in proportion to the number of combatants, than they had recently 
known in the wars of Europe. 

Information of these events, circulating through Europe, at length 
reached the ears of one who now hears me. He has not for- 
gotten the emotion which the fame of Bunker Hill, and the name 
of Warren, excited in his youthful breast. 

Sir,' we are assembled to commemorate the establishment of great 
public principles of libertj^ and to do honor to the distinguished 
dead. The occasion is too severe for eulogy to the living. But, 
sir, your interesting relation to this country, the peculiar circum- 
stances which surround you and surround us, call on me to express 
the happiness which we derive from your presence and aid in tliis 
solemn commemoration. 

Fortunate, fortunate man ! with what measure of devotion will 
you not thank God for the circumstances of your extraordinary 
life ! You are connected with both hemispheres and with two 
generations. Heaven saw fit to ordain that the electric spark of 
Liberty should be conducted, through you, from the New World to 
the Old ; and we, who are now here to perform this dutj' of patriot- 
ism, have all of us long ago received it in charge from our fathers 
to cherish your name and your virtues. You will account it an 
instance of your good fortune, sir, that you crossed the seas to 
visit us at a time which enables you to be present at this so- 
lemnity. You now behold the field, the reuown of which reached 
you in the heart of France, and caused a thrill in your ardent 
bosom. You see the lines of the little redoubt tin-own up by the 

1 Marie Je;m Pnul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquia de Lafayette, born 6 Sept., 1767, died 
at Paris, May 19, 18a4. - W. H. \V. 



APPENDIX E. 209 

incredible diligence of Prescott ; defended to the last extremity 
by bis liou-bearted valor ; and ivitbin which the corner-stone of 
our monument has now taken its position. You see where Warren 
fell, and where Parker, Gardner, McCleary, Moore, and other early 
patriots fell with him. Those who survived that day, and whose 
lives have been prolonged to the present hour, are now around 
you. Some of them you have known in the trying scenes of the 
war. Behold ! they now stretch forth theu' feeble arms to em- 
brace j'ou. Behold ! they raise their trembling voices to invoke 
the blessing of God on you and yours forever. 

Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundation of this edifice. 
You have heard us rehearse, with our feeble commendation, the 
names of departed patriots. Sir, monuments and eulogy belong 
to the dead. We give them, this day, to AVarreu and his asso- 
ciates. On other occasions they have been given to your more 
immediate companions in arms, to Washington, to Greene, to Gates, 
Sullivan, and Lincoln. Sir, we have become reluctant to grant 
these, our highest and last honors, further. We would gladly hold 
them yet back from the little remnant of that immortal band. 
Serus in ccdum redeas. Illustrious as are your merits, yet far, 
oh, very far distant be the day when any inscription shall bear 
your name, or any tongue pronounce its eulogy ! 

The leading reflection to which this occasion seems to invite us, 
respects tlie great changes which have happened in the fifty j-ears 
since the battle of Bunker Hill was fought. And it peculiarly 
marks the character of the present age, that, in looking at these 
changes, and in estimating their effect on our condition, we are 
obliged to consider, not what has been done in our own country 
only, but in others also. In these interesting times, while nations 
are making separate and individual advances in improvement, they 
make, too, a common progress ; like vessels on a common tide, 
propelled by the gales at different times, according to their several 
structure and management, but all moved forward by one mighty 
current beneath, strong enough to bear onward whatever does not 
sink beneath it. 

A chief distinction of the present day is a communitj' of opinions 



210 Webster's OEATioisr. 

and knowledge amongst men, in different nations, existing in a 
degree heretofore unl^nown. Knowledge has, in our time, triumphed 
and is triumphing, over distance, over difference of languages, over 
diversity of habits, over prejudice, and over bigotry. The civilized 
and Christian world is fast learning the great lesson, that differ- 
ence of nation does not implj' necessary hostility, and that all 
contact need not be war. The whole world is becoming a com- 
mon field for intellect to act in. Energy of mind, genius, power, 
wheresoever it exists, may speak out in any tongue, aud the loorld 
will hear it. A great chord of sentiment aud feeling runs through 
two continents, and vibrates over both. Every breeze wafts intel- 
ligence from country to couutry ; every wave rolls it ; all give it 
forth, and all in turn receive it. There is a vast commerce of 
ideas ; there are marts aud exchanges for intellectual discoveries, 
aud a wonderful fellowship of those individual iutelligeuces which 
make up the mind aud opinion of the age. Mind is the great 
lever of all things ; human thought is the process by which human 
ends are ultimately answered ; and the diffusion of knowledge, so 
astonishing in the last half century, has rendered innumerable 
miuds, variously gifted by nature, competent to be competitors, or 
fellow-workers, on the theatre of intellectual operation. 

From these causes important improvements have taken place in 
the personal condition of individuals. Generally speaking, man- 
kind are not only better fed, and better clothed, but they are able 
also to enjoy more leisure ; they possess more refinement and more 
self-respect. A superior tone of education, manners, and habits 
prevails. This remark, most true in its application to our own 
country, is also parti}' true when applied elsewhere. It is proved 
by the vastly augmented consumption of those articles of manu- 
facture and of commerce, which contribute to the comforts and the 
decencies of life ; an augmentation which has far outrun the prog- 
ress of population. And while the unexampled and almost in- 
credible use of machinery would seem to supply the place of labor, 
labor still finds its occupation and its reward ; so wisely has 
Providence adjusted men's wants and desires to their condition and 
their capacity. 



APPENDIX E. 211 

Any adequate survey, however, of the progress made in the 
last half century in the polite and the mechanic arts, in machin- 
ery and manufactures, in commerce and agriculture, in letters and 
in science, would require volumes. I must abstain wholly from 
these subjects, and turn, for a moment, to the contemplation of 
what has been done on the great question of politics and govern- 
ment. This is the master topic of the age ; and during the 
whole fifty years it has intensely occupied the thoughts of men. 
The nature of civil government, its ends and uses, have been 
canvassed and investigated ; ancient opinions attacked and defended ; 
new ideas recommended and resisted, by whatever power the mind 
of man could bring to the controversy. From the closet and tlie 
public halls the debate has been transferred to the field ; and tlie 
world has been shaken by wars of unexampled magnitude and 
the greatest variety of fortune. A day of peace has at length 
succeeded ; and now that the strife lias subsided, and the smoke 
cleared away, we may begin to see what has actually been done, 
permanently changing the state and condition of human societ}'. 
And without dwelling on particular circumstances, it is most 
apparent that, from the beforementioned causes of augmented 
knowledge and improved individual condition, a real, substantial, 
and important change has taken place, and is taking place, greatly 
beneficial, on the whole, to human liberty and human happiness. 

The great wheel of political revolution began to move in America. 
Here its rotation was guarded, regular, and safe. Transferred to 
the other continent, from unfortunate but natural causes, it received 
an irregular and violent impulse ; it whirled along with a fearful 
celerity ; till at length, lilie the chariot wheels in the races of 
antiquity, it toolv fire from the rapidity of its own motion, and 
blazed onward, spreading conflagration and terror around. 

We learn from the result of this experiment how fortunate was 
our own condition, and how admirably the character of our people 
was calculated for making the great example of popular govern- 
ments. The possession of power did not turn the heads of the 
American people, for they had long been in the habit of exercis- 
ing a great portion of self-control. Although the paramount 



212 webstee's OKATIOlSr. 

authorily of the parent State existed over them, yet a large field, 
of legislation had alwaj's been open to our colonial assemblies. 
They were accustomed to representative bodies and the forms of 
free government ; they understood the doctrine of the division of 
power among different branches, and the necessity of checks on 
each. The character of our countrymen, moreover, was sober, 
moral, and religious ; and there was little in the change to shock 
tlieir feelings of justice and humanity, or even to disturb an honest 
prejudice. We had no domestic throne to overturn, no privileged 
orders to cast down, no violent changes of property to encounter. 
In the American Revolution no men sought or wished for more 
than to defend and enjoy his own. None hoped for plunder or 
for spoil. Rapacity was unknown to it ; the axe was not among 
the instruments of its accomplishment ; and we all know that it 
could not have lived a single day under any well-founded impu- 
tation of possessing a tendency adverse to the Christian religion. 

It need not surprise us that, under circumstances less auspici- 
ous, political revolutions elsewhere, even when well intended, have 
terminated differently. It is, indeed, a great achievement, it is 
the master work of the world, to establish governments entirely 
popular on lasting foundations ; nor is it easy, indeed, to intro- 
duce the popular principle at all into governments to which it 
has been altogether a stranger. It cannot be doubted, however, 
that Europe has come out of the contest in which she has been 
so long engaged, with greatly superior knowledge, and, in many 
respects, a highly improved condition. Whatever benefit has been 
acquired, is likely to be retained, for it consists mainly in the 
acquisition of more enlightened ideas. And although kingdoms 
and provinces may be wrested from the hands that hold them, 
in the same manner they were obtained ; altliough ordinary and 
vulgar power may, in human affairs, be lost as it has been won ; 
yet it is the glorious prerogative of the empire of knowledge, that 
what it gains it never loses. On the contrary, it increases by 
the multiple of its own power ; all its ends become means ; all 
its attainments helps to new conquests. Its whole abundant 
harvest is but so much seed wheat, and nothing has ascertained, 
and notliing can ascertain, the amount of ultimate product. 



APPE^TDIX E. 213 

Under the influence of this rapidly increasing knowledge, the 
people have begun, in all forms of government, to think and to 
reason on affairs of State. Regarding government as an institu- 
tion for the public good, they demand a knowledge of its opera- 
tions, and a participation in its exercise. A call for the Repre- 
sentative system, wherever it is not enjoyed, and where there is 
already intelligence enough to estimate its value, is perseveringly 
made. Where men may speak out, they demand it ; where the 
bayonet is at their throats, they pray for it. 

When Louis XIV. said, " I am the State," he expressed the 
essence of the doctrine of unlimited power. By the rules of that 
system, the people are disconnected from the State ; they are its 
subjects ; it is their lord. These ideas, founded in the love of 
power, and long supported by the excess and the abuse of it, 
arc yielding, in our age, to other opinions ; and the civilized world 
seems at last to be proceeding to the conviction of that funda- 
mental and manifest truth, that the powers of government are but 
a trust, and that they cannot be lawfully exercised but for the 
good of the community. As knowledge is more and more ex- 
tended, this conviction becomes more and more general. Knowl- 
edge, in truth, is the great sun in the iiimament. Life and power 
are scattered with all its beams. The prayer of the Grecian com- 
batant, when enveloped in unnatural cloud and darkness, is the 
appropriate political supplication for the people of every country 
not yet blessed with free institutions ; 

" Dispel this clouJ, the light of heaven restore, 
Give me to see — and Ajax asks no more." 

We may hope that the growing influence of enlightened senti- 
ments will promote the permanent peace of the world. Wars, 
to maintain family alliances, to uphold or to cast down dj'uasties, 
to regulate successions to thrones, which have occupied so much 
room in the history of modern times, if not less likely to happen 
at all, will be less likely to become general and involve many 
nations, as the great principle shall be more and more established, 
that the interest of the world is peace, and its first great statute, 



214 Webster's oration. 

that every nation possesses the power of establishing a govern- 
ment for itself. But public opinion has attained also an influence 
over governments which do not admit the popular principle into 
their organization. A necessary respect for the judgment of the 
world operates, in some measure, as a control over the most un- 
limited forms of authoritj'. It is owing, perhaps, to this truth 
that the interesting struggle of the Greeks has been suffered to 
go on so long without a direct interference, either to wrest that 
country from its present masters, and add it to other powers, or 
to execute the system of pacification by force, and, with united 
strength, lay the neck of Christian and civilized Greece at the foot 
of the barbarian Turk. Let us thank God that we live in an 
age when something has influence besides the bayonet, and when 
the sternest authority does not venture to encounter the scorching 
power of public reproach. Any attempt of the kind I have men- 
tioned should be met by one universal burst of indignation ; the 
air of the civilized world ought to be made too warm to be com- 
fortably breathed by any who would hazard it. 

It is, indeed, a touching reflection, that while, in the fulness of 
our country's happiness, we rear this monument to her houor, we 
look for instruction, in our undertaking, to a country which is 
now in fearful contest, not for works of art or memorials of glory, 
but for her own existence. Let her be assured that she is not 
forgotten in the world ; that her efforts are applauded, and that 
constant prayers ascend for her success. And let us cherish a 
confident hope for her final triumph. If the true spark of religious 
and civil liberty be kindled, it will burn. Human agency cannot 
extinguish it. Like the earth's central fire, it may be smothered 
for a time ; the ocean may overwhelm it ; mountains may press 
it down ; but its inherent and unconquerable force will heave both 
the ocean and the land, and at some time or another, in some 
place or another, the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven. 

Among the great events of the half century, we must reckon, 
certainly, the revolution of South America ; and we are not likely 
to overrate the importance of that revolution, either to the people 
of the country itself or to the rest of the world. The late Spanish 



APPENDIX E. 215 

colonies, now independent States, under circumstances less favorable, 
doubtless, than attended our own Revolution, have yet successfully 
commenced their national existence. They have accomplished the 
great object of establishing their independence ; they are known 
and acknowledged in the world ; and although, in regard to their 
systems of government, their sentiments on religious toleration, and 
their provisions for public instruction, they may have yet much to 
learn, it must be admitted that they have risen to the condition 
of settled and established States more rapidly than could have been 
reasonably anticipated. They already furnish an exhilarating example 
of tlie difference between free governments and despotic misrule. 
Their commerce, at this moment, creates a new activity in all the 
great marts of the world. They show themselves able, by an 
exchange of commodities, to bear an useful part in the intercourse 
of nations. A new spirit of enterpi-ise and industry begins to 
prevail ; all the great interests of society receive a salutary impulse ; 
and the progress of information not only testifies to an improved 
condition, but constitutes itself the highest and most essential 
improvement. 

"When the battle of Bunker Hill was fouglit, the existence of 
South America was scarcely felt in the civilized world. The thirteen 
little colonies of North America habitually called themselves the 
"Continent." Borne down by colonial subjugation, monopoly, and 
bigotry, these vast regions of the south were hardly visible above 
the horizon. But in our clay there hath been, as it were, a new 
creation. The southern hemisphere emerges from the sea. Its 
lofty mountains begin to lift themselves into the light of heaven ; 
its broad and fertile plains stretch out, in beauty, to the eye of 
civilized man, and at the mighty bidding of the voice of political 
liberty, the waters of darkness retire. 

And, now, let us indulge an honest exultation in the conviction 
of the benefit which the example of our country has produced, 
and is likely to produce, on human freedom and human happi- 
ness. And let us endeavor to comprelieud, in all its magni- 
tude, and to feel, in all its importance, the part assigned to us 
in the great drama of human affairs. We are placed at the 



216 T^TSBSTER'S ORATION. 

head of tlie system of representative and popular governments. 
Thus far our example shows that such governments are compatible, 
not only with respectability and power, but with repose, with peace, 
with security of personal rights, with good laws, and a just admin- 
istration. 

We are not propagandists. Wherever other systems are pre- 
ferred, either as being thought better in themselves, or as better 
suited to existing condition, we leave the preference to be enjoyed. 
Our historj' hitherto proves, however, that the popular form is 
practicable, and that with wisdom and knowledge men may govern 
themselves ; and the duty incumbent on us is, to preserve the 
consistency of this cheering example, and take care that nothing 
may wealien its autliority with the world. If, in our case, the 
Representative system ultimately fail, popular governments must be 
pronounced impossible. No combination of circumstances more 
favorable to the experiment can ever be expected to occur. The 
last hopes of mankind, therefore, rest with us ; and if it should 
be proclaimed, that our example had become an argument against 
the experiment, the knell of popular liberty would be sounded 
throughout the earth. 

These are excitements to duty ; but they are not suggestions of 
doubt. Our history and our condition, all that is gone bafore 
us, and all that surrounds us, authorize the belief, that popular 
governments, though subject to occasional variations, jDerhaps not 
always for the better, in form, may yet, in their general char- 
acter, be as durable and permanent as other systems. We know, 
indeed, that, in our country, any other is impossible. The principle 
of free governments adheres to the American soil. It is bedded 
in it ; immovable as its mountains. 

And let the sacred obligations which have devolved on this 
generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts. Those are daily 
dropping from among us, who established our liberty and our gov- 
ernment. The great trust now descends to new hands. Let us 
apply ourselves to that which is presented to us, as our appro- 
priate object. We can win no laurels in a war for independence. 
Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them all. Nor are 



APPEXDIX E. 



21'i 



there places for us by the side of Solon, and Alfred, and other 
founders of States. Our fathers have filled them. But there 
remains to us a great duty of defence and preservation ; and there 
is opened to us, also, a noble pursuit, to which the spirit of the 
times strongly invites us. Our proper business is improvement. 
Let our age be the age of improvement. In a day of peace, 
let us advance the arts of peace and the works of peace. Let 
us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build 
up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether 
we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something 
worthy to be remembered. Let us cultivate a true spirit of union 
and harraouj'. In pursuing the great objects which our condition 
points out to us, let us act under a settled conviction, and an 
habitual feeling, that these twenty-four States are one country. 
Let our conceptions be enlarged to the circle of our duties. Let 
us extend our ideas over the wliole of the vast field in which we 
are called to act. Let our object be, our country, olr -whole 
couxTRT, AND KOTHixG BUT OUR COUNTRY. And, b}' the blessiug 
of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid 
monument, not of oppression and terror, but of AVisdom, of Peace, 
and of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration 
forever ! 




DETAIL OF FOUNDATION. FROM 'mLLARD'S JIEMORIAL. 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT 



BUNKER HILL, JUNE 17, 1843, 



COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT. 



By DANIEL WEBSTER. 



A DUTY has been performed. A work of gratitude and patriotism 
is completed. Tliis structure, liaving its foundations in soil whicli 
drank deep of early revolutionary blood, has at length reached its 
destined height, and now lifts its summit to the skies. 

We have assembled to celebrate the accomplishment of this under- 
taking, and to indulge, afresh, in the recollection of the great event 
which it is designed to commemorate. Eighteen years, more than 
half the ordinary duration of a generation of mankind, have elapsed 
since the corner-stone of this monument was laid. The hopes of 
its projectors rested on voluntary contributions, private munificence, 
and the general favor of the public. These hopes have not been 
disappointed. Donations have been made by individuals, in some 
cases of large amount, and smaller sums have been contributed by 
thousands. All who regard the object itself as important, and 
its accomplishment, therefore, as a good attained, will entertain 
sincere respect and gratitude for the unwearied efforts of the suc- 
cessive presidents, boards of directors, and committees of the 
association which has h.id the general control of the work. The 
architect, equally entitled to our thanks and commendation, will 

(218) 



APPENDIX E. 219 

fiud other reward, also, for his labor and skill, in the beauty and 
elegance of the obelisk itself, aud the distinctioa which, as a work 
of art, it confers ou him. 

At a period when the prospects of further progress in the under- 
taking were gloomy and discouraging, the Mechanic Association, 
by a most praiseworthy aud vigorous effort, raised new funds for 
carrj'iug it forward, and saw them applied with fidelity, ecouom}', 
aud skill. It is a grateful duty to make public acknowledgments 
of such timely and efficient aid. 

The last effort, and the last contribution, were from a different 
source. Garlands of grace and elegance were destined to crown a 
work which had its commencement in manly patriotism. The win- 
ning power of the sex addressed itself to the public, and all that 
was needed to carry the monument to its proposed height, aud 
give to it its finish, was promptly supplied. The mothers aud the 
daughters of the laud contributed thus, most successfully, to 
whatever of beautj^ is in the monument itself, or whatever of 
utility aud public benefit aud gratification in its completion. 

Of those with whom the plau of erecting, on this spot, a 
mouumeut worthy of the event to be commemorated, originated, 
manj' are uow present ; but others, alas ! have themselves become 
subjects of monumental inscription. WUliam Tudor,' an accom- 
plished scholar, a distinguished writer, a most amiable man, allied, 
both b}' birth and sentiment, to the patriots of the Revolution, 
died while on public service abroad, aud now lies buried in a 
foreign land. "WUliam Sullivan,- a name fragrant of Revolutionary 
merit, and of public service aud public virtue, who himself partook, 
iu a high degree, of the respect and confidence of the commuuit}', 
and j'et was always most loved where best known, has also been 
gathered to his fathers. Aud last, George Blake, ^ a lawyer of 

^ "SViUiam Tudor, son of Judge William T., was born iu Boston, 2S Jan. 1779, died at Rio Janeiro, 
9 Mch. ISJO. He was distinguished iu many ways, as a mercliant, orator, autlior aud diplomatist, 
and for his public spirit. — ^¥. H. W. 

~ William Sullivan, son of Gen. James S., born at Saco, 30 Nov. 1774, died at Boston, 3 Sept, 
1S39. He was a lawyer, frequently in the legislature, a noted writer and orator. — "W. H. W. 

3 George Blake, son of Joseph, born at Hardwick, Mass. 16 April, 1769, died at Boston, fi <>>;t- 
1S41. He was a prominent lawyer, and orator, and U. S. District Attorney AV. H. "W. 



220 webstek's okation. 

learning and eloquence, a man of wit and of talent, of social quali- 
ties the most agreeable and fascinating, and of gifts whicli enabled 
him to exercise large sway over public assemblies, has closed his 
human career. I know that in the crowds before me there ai'e 
those from whose eyes copious tears will flow at the mention 
of these names. But such mention is due to their general character, 
their public and private virtues, and especially, on this occasion, to 
the spirit and zeal with which they entered into the undertaking 
which is now completed. 

I have spoken only of those who are no longer numbered with 
the living. But a long .life, now drawing towards its close, alwaj'S 
distinguished by acts of public spu'it, humanity, and charitj', form- 
ing a character which has already become historical and sanctified 
by public regard and the affection of friends, may confer, even 
on the living, the i^roper immunity of the dead, and be the fit 
subject of honorable mention and warm commendation. Of the 
early projectors of the design of this monument, one of the most 
prominent, the most zealous, and the most efficient, is Thomas H. 
Perkins. "^ It was beneath his ever hospitable roof that those whom 
I have mentioned, and others yet living and now present, having 
assembled for the purpose, adopted the first step towards erecting 
a monument on Bunker Hill. Long may he remain, with unim- 
paired faculties, in the wide field of his usefulness. Ilis charities 
have distilled, like the dews of heaven ; he has fed the hungry 
and clothed the naked ; he has given sight to the blind ; and for 
such virtues there is a reward on high, of which all human 
memorials, all language of brass and stone, are but humble types 
and attempted imitations. 

Time and nature have had theu' course in diminishing tlie num- 
ber of those whom we met here on the 17th of June, 1825. 
Most of the Eevolutionary characters theu present have since 
deceased ; and Lafaj'ette sleeps in his native land. Yet the name 

1 Thomas Handasyde Perkins, tiorn at BoBton 15 Dec. 1764, died there 11 January, IS.U. AVitU 
his brother James, he established a great commercial house, trading especially with the East 
Indies. Both brothers were splendid examples of mercantile honor and enterprise, and equally 
distinguished by their public spirit and grand munilicence. The Blind Asylum and the Boston 
Allacnxum are evidences of their wisdom as well as their generosity. — "W. H. \Y. 



APPENDIX E. 221 

and Lloo.l of AVarren are with us ; the k'mdred of Putnam are also 
here ; and near me, universally beloved for his character and his 
virtues, and now venerable for his years, sits the son of the 
noble-hearted and daring Prescott.' Gideon Foster, of Danvers ; Enos 
Reynolds, of Boxford ; Phineas Johnson, Robert Andrews, Elijah 
Dresser, Josiah Cleaveland, Jesse Smith, Philip Bagley, Xeedhani 
Maj'nard, Roger Plaisted, Joseph Stephens, Xehemiah Porte-r, and 
James Harvey, who bore arms for their country, either at Concord 
and Lexington, on the 19th of April, or on Bunker Hill, all now 
far advanced in age, have come here to-day to look once more 
on the field of the exercise of their valor, and to receive a hearty 
outpouring of our respect. 

They have long outlived the troubles and dangers of the Revo- 
lution ; they have outlived the evils arising from the want of a 
united and elHcient government ; they have outlived the pendency 
of imminent dangers to the public liberty ; they have outlived 
nearly all their contemporaries ; but they have not outlived — they 
cannot outlive — the affectionate gratitude of their country. Heaven 
has not allotted to this generation an opportunity of rendering 
high services, and manifesting strong personal devotion, such as 
they rendered and manifested, and in such a cause as that, which 
roused the patriotic fires of their youlhful breasts and uerved the 
strength of their arms. But we may praise what we cannot equal, 
and celebrate actions which we were not born to perform. Pal- 
clirum est henefacere reipubllcce, etiam bene dicere hand absurdum est. 

The Bunker Hill monument is finished. Here it stands. For- 
tunate in the high natural eminence on which it is placed — higher, 
infijiitely higher in its objects and purpose, it rises over the land, 
and over the sea,, and visible, at their homes, to three hundred 
thousand of the people of Massachusetts, — it stands a memorial 
of the last, and a monitor to the present, and to all succeeding 
generations. I have spoken of the loftiness of its purpose. If it 
had been without any other design than the creation of a work of 
art, the granite of which it is composed would have slept in its 

I Judge AVilliam Prescott, son of Col. Willhira P., was bora at Pepperrell, Alass. 19 Aug. 
1762, died at Boston, 3 Dec. 1S44. He was distinguished as a lawyer and a legislator. — W. II. W. 



222 "Webster's oiiATiON. 

native bed. It lias a purpose ; and that purpose gives it its 
character. That purpose enrobes it with dignity and moral gran- 
deur. That well-known purpose it is which causes us to look up 
to it with a feeling of awe. It is itself the orator of this occasion. 
It is not from my lips, — it could not be from any human lips, — 
that that strain of eloquence is this day to flow, most competent 
to move and excite the vast multitudes around me. The powerful 
speaker stands motionless before us. 

It is a plain shaft. It bears no inscriptions, fronting to the 
rising sun, from which the future antiquarian shall wipe the dust. 
Nor does the rising sun cause tones of music to issue from its 
summit. But at the rising of the sun, and at the setting of the 
sun, in the blaze of noonday, and beneath the milder effulgence of 
lunar light, it looks, it speaks, it acts, to the full comprehension 
of every American mind, and the awakening of glowing enthusiasm 
in every American heart. Its silent, but awful utterance ; its 
deep pathos, as it brings to our contemplation the 17th of 
June, 1775, and the consequences which have resulted to us, to 
our country, and to the world, from the events of that day, and 
which we know must continue to rain influence on the destinies 
of mankind to the end of time ; the elevation with which it 
raises us high above the ordinary feelings of life : surpass all 
that the study of the closet, or even the inspnation of genius 
can produce. 

To-day it speaks to us. Its future auditories will be the 
successive generations of men, as they rise up before it, and 
gather around it. Its speech will be of patriotism and courage ; 
of civil and religious liberty ; of free government ; of the moral 
improvement and elevation of mankind ; and of the immortal 
memory of those who with heroic devotion have sacrificed their 
lives for their country. 

In the older world, numerous fabrics still exist, reared by human 
hands, but whose object has been lost in the darkness of ages. 
They are now monuments of nothing but the labor and skill 
which constructed them. 

The mighty pyramid itself, half buried iu the sands of Africa, 



APPENDIX E. 223 

has nothing to bring down and report to us but the power of 
kings and the servitude of the people. If it had any purpose 
beyond that of a mausoleum, such purpose has perished from 
history and from tradition. If asked for its moral object, its 
admonition, its sentiment, its instruction to mankind, or any high 
end in its erection, it is silent — - silent as the millions which lie 
in the dust at its base, and in the catacombs which surround it. 
Without a just moral object, therefore, made known to man, 
though raised against the skies, it excites only couviction of power, 
mixed with strange wonder. But if the civilization of the present 
race of men, founded as it is in solid science, the true knowl- 
edge of nature, and vast discoveries in art, and which is stimu- 
lated and purified by moral sentiment, and by the truths of 
Christianity, be not destined to destruction before the final termi- 
nation of human existence on earth, the object and purpose of 
this edifice will be known till that hour shall come. And even if 
civilization should be subverted, and the trutlis of the Christian 
religion obscured by a new deluge of barbarism, the memory of 
Bunker Hill and the American Revolution will still be elements 
and parts of the knowledge which shall be possessed bj' the last 
man, to whom the light of civilization and Christianity shall be 
extended. 

This celebration is honored by the presence of the Chief Exe- 
cutive Magistrate of the Union. ^ An occasion so national in its 
object and character, and so much connected with that Revolution 
from which the government sprang, at the head of which he is 
placed, may well receive from him this mark of attention and 
respect. Well acquainted with Yorktown, the scene of the last 
great military struggle of the Revolution, his eye now surveys the 
field of Bunker Hill, the theatre of the first of those impor- 
tant conflicts. He sees where Warren fell, where Putnam, and 
Prescott, and Stark, and Knowlton, and Brooks fought. He 
beholds the spot where a thousand trained soldiers of England 
were smitten to the earth, in the first effort of Revolutionary war, 
by the arm of a bold and determined yeomanry, contending for 

^ President John Tyler and his cabinet were present. — W. H. W. 



224 WEBSTEK S OIIATION. 

liberty and their country. And while all assembled here entertain 
towards him sincere personal good wishes, and the high respect 
due to his elevated office and station, it is not to be doubted 
that he enters, with true American feeling, into the patriotic en- 
thusiasm, kindled by the occasion, which animates the multitudes 
which surround him. 

His Excellency the Governor of tlie Commonwealth,' the Gover- 
nor of Rhode Island, and the other distinguished public men, whom 
we have the honor to receive as visitors and guests to-day, will 
cordially unite in a celebration connected with the great event of' 
the Revolutionary war. 

No name in the history of 177.5 and 1776 is more distinguished 
than that borne by an ex-President of the United States, whom 
we expected to see here, but whose ill-health prevents his attend- 
ance. Whenever popular rights were to be asserted, an Adams 
was present ; and when the time came for the formal Declaration 
of Independence, it was the voice of an Adams that shook tlie 
halls of Congress. We wish we could have welcomed to us this 
day tlie inheritor of Revolutionary blood, and the just and worthy 
representative of high Revolutionary names, merit, and services. 

Banners and badges, processions and flags, announce to us that 
amidst this uncounted throng are thousands of natives of New 
England, now residents in other States. Welcome, ye kindred 
names, with kindred blood ! From the broad savannas of the 
South, from the newer regions of the West, from amidst the 
hundreds of thousands of men of Eastern origin, who cultivate the 
rich valley of the Genesee, or live along the cliain of the Lakes, 
from the mountains of Pennsylvania, and the thronged cities of the 
Coast, welcome, welcome ! Wherever else j'ou may be strangers, 
here you are all at home. You assemble at this shrine of liberty, 
near the family altars, at which your earliest devotions were paid 
to Heaven ; near to the temples of worship, first entered by you, 
and near to the schools and colleges in which j'our education was 
received. You come hither with a glorious ancestry of liberty. . 

1 Gov. Marcus Morton of MaasachusettB and Gov. James FeuDer of Rhode Island were on the 
platform.— W.H. W. 



APPE>T5IX E. 



225 



You bring names wHch are on the rolls of Lexington, Concord, 
and Bunker Hill. You come, some of you, once more to be em- 
braced by an aged Revolutionary Father, or to receive another, 
perhaps, a last blessing, bestowed in love and tears, by a mother, 
yet surviving to witness, and to enjoy, your prosperity and hap- 
piness. 

But if family associations and the recollections of the past bring 
j'ou hitlier with greater alacrity, and mingle with your' greeting 
much of local attachment and private affection, greeting, also, be 
given, — free and hearty greeting, — to every American citizen who 
treads this sacred soil with patriotic feeling, and respires with 
pleasure, in an atmosphere perfumed with the recollections of 1775. 
This occasion is respectable — nay, it is grand, it is sublime, by 
the nationality of its sentiment. In the seventeen millions of happy 
people who form the American community, there is not one who 
has not an interest in this monument, as there is not one tliat 
has not a deep and abiding interest in that which it com- 
memorates. 

Woe betide the man who brings to this day's worship feeling 
less than wholly American ! Woe betide the man who can stand 
here with the fires of local resentments burning, or the purpose 
of fomenting local jealousies, and the strifes of local interests, 
festering and rankling, in his heart. Union, established in justice, 
in patriotism, and the most plain and obvious common interest ; 
union, founded on the same love of liberty, cemented by blood 
shed in the same common cause ; union has been the source of 
all our glory and greatness thus far, and is the ground of all our 
highest hopes. This column stands on Union. I know not that 
it might not keep its position if the American Union, in the mad 
conflict of human passions, and in the strife of parties and 
factious, should be broken up and destroyed. I know not that it 
would totter and fall to the earth, and mingle its fragments with 
the fragments of Liberty and the Constitution, when State should 
be separated from State, and faction and dismemberment obliter- 
ate forever all the hopes of the founders of our Republic and 
the great inheritance of their children. It might stand. But who, 



226 webstee's okatio]!^. 

from beneath the weight of mortification and shame that would 
oppress him, could look up to behold it? Whose eyeballs would 
not be seared by such a spectacle? For my part, should I live 
to such a time, I shall avert my eyes from it forever. 

It is not as a mere military encounter of hostile armies, that 
the battle of Bunker Hill presents its principal claim to attention. 
Yet, even as a mere battle, there were circumstances attending 
it, extraordinary in character, and entitling it to peculiar dis- 
tinction. It was fought on this eminence ; in the neighborhood of 
yonder city ; in the presence of more spectators than there were 
combatants in the conflict. Men, women, and children, from every 
commanding position, were gazing at the battle, and looking for 
its result with all the eagerness natural to those who knew that 
the issue was fraught with the deepest consequences to themselves, 
personally, as well as to their country. Yet, on the 16th of 
June, 1775, there was nothing around this hill but verdure and 
culture. There was, indeed, the note of awful preparation in 
Boston. There was the provincial army at Cambridge, with its 
right flank resting; on Dorchester and its left on Chelsea. But 
here all was peace. Tranquillity reigned around. 

On the 17th, everything was changed. On this height had 
arisen, in the night, a redoubt, built by Prescott, and in 
which he held command. Perceived by ihe enemy at dawn, it was 
immediately caunonaded from the floating batteries in the river 
and from the opposite shore. And then ensued the hurry of prep- 
aration in Boston, and soon the troops of Britain embarked iu 
the attempt to dislodge the colonists. In an hour everything 
indicated an immediate and bloody conflict. Love of liberty on 
one side, proud defiance of rebellion on the other ; hopes and 
fears, and courage and daring, on both sides, animated the hearts 
of the combatants as they hung on the edge of battle. 

I suppose it would be difflcult, in a military point of view, to 
ascribe to the leaders on either side any just motive for the en- 
s:a2;ement which followed. On the one hand, it could not have 
been very important to the Americans to attempt to hem the 
British within the town, by advancing one single post a quarter of 



APPENDLX E. 227 

a mile ; while ou the other hand, if the British found it essential 
to dislodge the American troops, they had it in their power, at 
no expense of life. By moving up their ships and batteries, they 
could have completely cut of all communication with the main 
land over the neck, and tlie forces in the redoubt would have 
been reduced to a state of famine in forty-eight hours. 

But that was not the day for any such considerations, on either 
side. Both parties were anxious to try the strength of their arras. 
The pride of England would not permit the rebels, as she termed 
them, to defy her to the teeth; and without for a moment 
calculating the cost, the British general determined to destroy the 
fort immediately. On the other side, Prescott and his gallant 
followers longed and thirsted for a decisive trial of strength and 
of courage. They wished a battle, and wished it at once. And 
this is tlie true secret of the movements on this hill. 

I will not attempt to describe that battle. The cannonading — 
the landing of the British — their advance — the coolness with 
which the charge was met — the repulse — the second attack — the 
second repulse — the burning of Charlestown — and finally the 
closing assault, and the slow retreat of the Americans — the history 
of all these is familiar. 

But the consequences of the battle of Bunker Hill are greater 
than those of any ordinary conflict, although between armies of 
far greater force, and terminating with more immediate advantage, 
on the one side or the other. It was the first great battle of the 
Revolution ; and not only the first blow, but the blow which deter- 
mined the contest. It did not, indeed, put an end to the war, 
but in the then existing hostile state of feeling, the difHculties 
could only be referred to the arbitration of the sword. And one 
thing is certain : that after the New England troops had shown 
themselves able to face and repulse the regulars, it was decided 
that peace never could be established but upon the basis of the 
independence of the colonies. When the sun of that day went 
down, the event of independence was no longer doubtful. In a 
few days Washington heard of the battle, and he inquired if the 
militia had stood the fire of the regulars. And when told that 



228 Webster's okation. 

they had not only stood that fire, but reserved their own till the 
enemj' was within eight rods, and then poured it in with tre- 
mendous effect, — "Then," exclaimed he, "the liberties of the 
country are safe I " 

The consequences of this battle were just of the same importance 
as the Ee volution itself. 

If there was nothing of value in the principles of the American 
Revolution, then there is nothing valuable iu the battle of Bunker 
HOI and its consequences. But if the Revolution was an era in 
the history of man, favorable to human happiness, — if it was an 
event which marked the progress of man, all over the world, from 
despotism to liberty — then this monument is not raised without 
cause. Then the battle of Bunker Hill is not an event un- 
deserving celebrations, commemorations, and rejoicings now, and in 
all coming times. 

What, then, is the true and peculiar principle of the American 
Revolution, and of the systems of government which it has con- 
firmed and established? The truth is, that the American Revolu- 
tion was not caused by the instantaneous discovery of principles 
of government before unheard of, or the practical adoption of 
political ideas such as had never before entered into the miuds 
of men. It was but the full development of principles of gov- 
ernment, forms of society, and political sentiments, the origin of 
all which lay back two centuries in English and American history. 

The discovery of America, its colonization by the nations of 
Europe, the history and progress of the colonies, from their es- 
tablishment to the time when the principal of them threw off 
theu- allegiance to the respective States which had planted them, 
and founded governments of their own, constitute one of the most 
interesting trains of events iu human annals. These events occu- 
pied three hundred years ; during which period ci\'ilization and 
knowledge made steady progress in the Old World ; so that Europe, 
at the commencement of the nineteenth centurj', had become greatly 
changed from that Europe wliich began the colonization of America 
at the close of the fifteenth, or the commencement of the six- 
teenth. And what is most material to my present purpose is, that 



APPENDIX E. 229 

in the progress of the first of these centuries, that is to say, 
from the discovery of America to the settlements of Virginia and 
Massachusetts, political and religious events took place which most 
materially affected the state of society and the sentiments of 
mankind, especially in England and in parts of continental Europe. 

After a few feeble and unsuccessful efforts by England, under 
Henry VII. to plant colonies in America, no designs of that 
kind were prosecuted for a long period, either bj' the English 
government or any of its subjects. TVithout inquiring into the 
causes of this delaj', its consequences are sufflcientlj^ clear and 
striking. England in this lapse of a centurj', uuknowu to herself, 
but under the providence of God and the influence of events, 
was fitting herself for the work of colonizing North America, on 
such principles, and by such men, as should spread the English 
name and English blood, in time, over a great portion of the 
"Western hemisphere. 

The commercial spirit was greatly fostered by several laws 
passed in Henry the Seventh's reign ; and in the same reign, 
encouragement was given to arts and manufactures in the Eastern 
counties, and some not unimportant modifications of the feudal 
system took place, by allowing the breaking of entails. These, 
and other measures, and other occurrences, were making way 
for a new class of society to emerge and show itself, in a 
military and feudal age; a middle class, — between the barons or 
great landholders and the retainers of the crown, on the one side, 
and the tenants of the crown and barons, and agricultural and 
other laborers, on the other side. AVith the rise and growth of 
this new class of society, not only did commerce and the arts 
increase, but better education, a greater degree of knowledge, 
juster notions of the true ends of government, and sentiments 
favorable to civil liberty, began to spread abroad, and become 
more and more common. But the plants springing from these 
seeds were of slow growth. The character of English society had 
indeed begun to undergo a change ; but changes of national 
cliaracter are ordinarily the work of time. Operative causes were, 
however, evidently in existence, and sure to produce, ultimately, 
their proper effect. 



230 wkbstek's oration^. 

From the accession of Henry VII. to the breaking out of 
the civil wars, England enjoyed much more exemption from 
war, foreign and domestic, than for a long period before, and 
during, the controversy between the houses of York and Lan- 
caster. These years of peace were favorable to commerce and 
the arts. Commerce and the arts augmented general and in- 
dividual knowledge ; and knowledge is the only fountain, both of 
the love and the principles of human liberty. Other powerful 
causes soon came into active play. The Keformation of Luther 
broke out, kindling up the minds of men afresh, leading to new 
habits of thought, and awakening in individuals energies before 
uulvuown, even to tliemselves. The religious controversies of this 
period changed society, as well as religion ; indeed, it would be 
easy to prove, if this occasion were proper for it, that they 
changed society to a considerable extent, where they did not change 
the religion of the State. They changed man, himself, in his 
modes of thought, his consciousness of his own powers, and his 
desire of intellectual attainment. 

The spirit of commercial and foreign adventure, therefore, on the 
one hand, which had gained so much strength and influence since 
the time of the discovery of America, and, on tlie other, the asser- 
tion and maintenance of religious liberty, having their source indeed 
in the Reformation, but continued, diversified, and continually 
strengthened by the subsequent divisions of sentiment and opinion 
among the reformers themselves, and this love of religious liberty 
drawing after it, or bringing along with it, as it alwaj's does, an 
ardent devotion to the principle of civil liberty also, were the pow- 
erful influences under which chai-acter was formed, and men trained 
for the great work of introducing English civilization, English law, 
and, what is more than all, Anglo-Saxon blood, into the wilderness 
of North America. Kaleigh and his companions may be considered 
as the creatures, principally, of the first of these causes. High- 
spirited, full of the love of personal adventure, excited too, in some 
degree, by the hopes of sudden riches from the discovery of mines 
of the precious metals, and not unwilling to diversify the labors 
of settling a colony with occasional cruising against the Spaniards 



APPENDIX E. 231 

ia the West Indian seas, they crossed and recrossed the ocean 
with a frequency which surprises us when we consider the state 
of navigation, and which evinces a most daring spirit. 

The other cause peopled New England. The "May-flower" sought 
our shores under no high wrought spirit of commercial adventure, 
no love of gold, no mixture of purpose, warlike or hostile, to any 
human being. Like the dove from the ark, she had put forth 
only to find rest. Solemn supplications on the shore of the sea 
in Holland had invoked for her, at her departure, the blessings 
of Providence. The stars which guided her were the uuobscured 
constellations of civil and religious liberty. Her deck was the altar 
of the living God. Fervent prayers from bended knees mingled, 
morning and evening, with the voices of ocean and the sighing 
of the wind in her shrouds. Every prosperous breeze, which, 
gently swelling her sails, helped the PUgrims onward in their 
course, awoke new anthems of praise ; and when the elements 
were wrought into fury, neither the tempest, tossing their fragile 
bark like a feather, nor the darkness and howling of the mid- 
night storm, ever disturbed, in man or woman, the Arm and settled 
purpose of their souls, to undergo all, and to do all, that the 
meekest patience, the boldest resolution, and the highest trust in 
God, could enable human beings to suffer or to perform. 

Some differences maj', doubtless, be traced at this day, between 
the descendants of the early colonists of Virginia and those of 
New England, owing to the different influences and different cir- 
cumstances under wliich the respective settlements were made ; but 
only enough to create a pleasing variety in the midst of a general 
family resemblance. 

" facies, non omnibus una, 



Nee diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sorores." 

But the habits, sentiments, and objects of both, soon became 
modified by local causes, growing out of their condition in the 
New World ; and as this condition was essentially alike in both, 
and as both at once adopted the same general rules aud principles 



232 webstek's okatiox. 

of Englisli jurisprudence, and became accustomed to the authority 
of representative bodies, these differences gradually diminished. 
They disappeared by the progress of time and the influence of 
intercourse. The necessity of some degree of union and coopera- 
tion to defend themselves against the savage tribes, tended to 
excite in them mutual respect and regard. They fought together 
in the wars agaiust France. The great and common cause of the 
Revolution bound them to one another by new links of brother- 
hood ; and finally, fortunately, happily and gloriously, the present 
constitution of government united them to form the great republic 
of the world, and bound up their interest and fortunes, till the 
whole earth sees that there is now for them, in present jDosses- 
sion, as well as future hope, only "one countrj', one Constitution, 
and one destiny." 

The colonization of the tropical region, and the whole of the 
southern parts of the continent, by Spain and Portugal, was coa- 
ducted on other principles, under the influence of other motives, 
and followed by far different consequences. From the time of its 
discovery, the Spanish government pushed forward its settlements 
in America, not only with vigor, but with eagerness ; so that long 
before the first permanent English settlement had been accom- 
plished, in what is now the United States, Spain had conquered 
Mexico, Peru, and Chili, and stretched her power over nearly 
all the territory she ever acquired in this continent. The rapidity 
of these conquests is to be ascribed, in a great degree, to the 
eagerness, not to say the rapacity of those numerous bands of 
adventurers, who were stimulated by individu.al interests and 
private hopes, to subdue immense regions, and take possession of 
them in the name of the crown of Spain. The mines of gold 
and silver were the excitements to these efforts, and accordingly 
settlements were generally made, and Spanish authority established, 
ou the immediate eve of the subjugation of territory', that the 
native population jnight be set to work by their new Spanish 
masters, in the mines. 

From these facts, the love of gold — gold, not produced by 
industry, nor accumulated by commerce, but gold dug from its 



200 
OO 

native bed in the bowels of tlie earth, and that earth ravished 
from its rightful possessors hy every possible degree of enonnity, 
cruelt}', and crime, Tras long the governing passion in Spanish 
wars and Spanish settlements in America. Even Columbus himself 
did not wholly escape the influence of this base motive. In his 
early voyages we find liiui passing from island to island, inquiring 
everywhere for gold ; as if God had opened the New AVorld 
to the knowledge of the Old only to gratify a passion equally- 
senseless and sordid ; and to offer up millions of an unoffending 
race of men to the destruction of the sword, sharpened both 
by cruelty and rapacity. And yet Columbus was far above his 
age and country. Enthusiastic, indeed, but sober, religious, and 
magnanimous ; born to great things and capable of high sen- 
timents, as his noble discourse before Ferdinand and Isabella, 
as well as the whole history of his life, shows. Probably he 
sacriflced much to the known sentiments of others, and addressed 
to his followers motives likely to influence them. At the same 
time it is evident that he himself looked upon the world which 
he discovered as a world of wealth, all ready to be seized and 
enjoyed. 

The conquerors and the European settlers of Spanish America 
were mainly military commanders and common soldiers. The 
monarchy of Spain was not transferred to this hemisphere, but it 
acted in it, as it acted at home, through its ordinary means, and 
its true representative, military' force. The robbery and destruction 
of the native race was the achievement of standing armies, in the 
right of the king, and by his authority ; lighting, in his name, for 
the aggrandizement of his power and the extension of his pre- 
rogatives ; with military ideas under arbitrary maxims, a portion 
of that dreadful instrumentality by which a perfect despotism 
governs a people. As there was no liberty in Spain, how could 
liberty be transmitted to Spanish colonies ? 

The colonists of English America were of the people, and a 
people already free. They were of the middle, industrious, and 
already prosperous class, the inhabitants of commercial and manu- 
facturing cities, among whom liberty first re^-ived and respired, 



234 Webster's oration". 

after a sleep of a thousand years in the bosom of the dark ages. 
Spain descended on the New AVorld in the armed and terrible image 
of her monarchy and her soldiery ; England approached it in the 
winning and popular garb of personal rights, public protection, and 
civil freedom. England transplanted liberty to America ; Spain 
transplanted power. England, through the agency of private com- 
panies and the efforts of individuals, colonized this part of North 
America by industrious individuals, making their own way in the 
wilderness, defending themselves against the savages, recognizing 
their right to the soil, and with a general honest purpose of in- 
troducing knowledge, as well as Christianitj', among them. Spain 
stooped on South America, like a falcon on its prey. Everything 
was force. Territories were acquired by fire and sword. Cities 
were destroyed by iire and sword. Hundreds of thousands of 
human beings fell by fire and sword. Even conversion to Chris- 
tianity was attempted by fire and sword. 

Behold, then, fellow-citizens, the difference resulting from the 
operation of the two principles ! Here, to-day, on the summit of 
Bunker Hill, and at the foot of this monument, behold the differ- 
ence ! I would that the fifty thousand voices present could pro- 
claim it, with a shout which should be heard over the globe. Our 
inheritance was of liberty, secured and regulated by law, and 
enlightened by religion and knowledge ; that of South America was 
of power, stern, unrelenting, tyrannical, military power. And now 
look to the consequences of the two principles on the general and 
aggregate happiness of the human race. Behold the results, in all 
the regions conquered by Cortez and Pizarro, and the contrasted 
results here. I suppose the territory of the United States may 
amount to one-eighth, or one-tenth, of that colonized bj' Spain on 
this continent ; and j'et in all that vast region there are but be- 
tween one and two millions of people of European color and 
European blood ; while in the United States there are fourteen 
millions who rejoice in their descent from the people of the more 
northern part of Europe. 

But we may follow the difference, in the original principle of 
colonization, and in its character and objects, still further. "We 



APPENDIX K. 235 

must look to moral and iutelleetual results ; we must consider con- 
sequences, not ouly as they show themselves in the greater or less 
multiplication of men, or the greater or less supply of their 
phj'sical wants, but in their civilisation, improvement, and happi- 
ness. We must inquire what progress has been made in the true 
science of libertj', in the knowledge of the great principles of 
self-government, and in the progress of man, as a social, moral, 
and religious being. 

I would not willingly say anything on this occasion discour- 
teous to the new governments, founded on the demolition of the 
power of the Spanish monarchy. The^' are yet on their trial, and 
I hope for a favorable result. But truth, sacred truth, and fidelity 
to the cause of civil liberty, compel me to say, that hitherto 
they have discovered quite too much of the spirit of that monarchy 
from which they separated themselves. Quite too frequent resort 
is made to military force ; and quite too much of the substance 
of the people consumed in maintaining armies, not for defence 
against foreign aggression, but for enforcing obedience to domestic 
authority. Standing armies are the oppressive instruments for gov- 
erning the people ia the hands of hereditary and arbitrary 
mouarchs. A military republic, a government founded on mock 
elections, and supported only by the sword, is a movement indeed, 
but a retrograde and disastrous movement, from the regular and 
old-fashioned monarchical systems. 

If men would enjoj' the blessings of republican government, they 
must govern themselves bj' reason, by mutual counsel, aud consulta- 
tion, by a sense and feeling of general interest, and bj' the acquies- 
cence of the minority in the will of the majority, properly expressed ; 
aud above all, the military must be kept, according to the language 
of our BUI of Rights, in strict subordination to the c'ktI authority. 
"Wherever this lesson is not both learned and practised, there can 
be no political freedom. Absurd, jji'eposterous is it — a scoff and a 
satire on free forms of constitutional. liberty, for frames of govern- 
ment to be prescribed by military leaders, and the right of suffrage 
to be exercised at the point of the sword. 

Making all allowance for situation aud climate, it cannot be 



236 webstek's oratiox. 

doubted by intelligent minds that the difference now existing be- 
tween North and South America is justl}' attributable, in a great 
degree, to political institutions iu the Old AVorld and in the New. 
And how broad that difference is ! Suppose an assemblj', in one 
of the vallej's, or on the side of one of the mountains of the 
southern half of the hemisphere, to be held, this daj', in the 
neighborhood of a large city ; — what would be the scene pre- 
sented? Yonder is a volcano, flaming and smoking, but shedding 
no light, moral or intellectual. At its foot is the mine, yielding, 
perhaps, sometimes, large gains to capital, but in which labor is 
destined to eternal and unrequited toil, and followed only by 
penury and beggary. The city is filled with armed men ; uot a 
free people, armed and coming forth voluntarily to rejoice in a 
public festivity ; but hireling troops, supported by foi'ced loans, 
excessive impositions on commerce, or taxes wrung from a half- 
fed, and a half-clothed population. For the great, there are 
palaces covered with gold ; for the poor, there are hovels of the 
meanest sort. There is an ecclesiastical hierarchy, enjoying the 
wealth of princes ; but there are no means of education to the 
people. Do public improvements favor intercourse between place 
and place? So far from this, the traveller cannot pass from town 
to town without danger, every mile, of robbery and assassination. 
I would not overcharge or exaggerate this picture ; but its prin- 
cipal sketches are all too true. 

And how does it contrast with the scene now actually before 
us ? Look around upon these fields ; they are verdant and beautiful, 
well cultivated, and at this moment loaded with the riches of the 
early harvest. The hands which till them are free owners of the 
soil, enjoying equal rigiits, and protected bj' law from oppression 
and tyranny. Look to the thousand vessels in our sight, filling 
the harbor, or covering the neighboring sea. They are the instru- 
ments of a profitable commerce, carried on by men who know 
that the profits of tlieir hardy, enterprise, when they make them, 
are their own ; and this commerce is encouraged and regulated by 
wise laws, and defended, when need be, by the valor and patriot- 
ism of the country. , 



APPENDIX E. 237 

Look to that fair city, the abode of so much diffused 
wealtli, so much general happiness and comfort, so much per- 
sonal independence, and so much general knowledge, and not 
undistinguished, I may be permitted to add, for hospitality and 
social refinement. She fears no forced contributions, no siege 
or sacking from military leaders of rival factious. The hundred 
temples, in which her citizens worship God, are in no danger of 
sacrilege. The regular administration of the laws encounters no 
obstacle. The long processions of chUdrcn and youth, which you 
see this day, issuing by thousands from her free schools, prove 
the care and anxiety with which a popular government provides 
for the education and morals of the people. Everywhere there 
is order ; everywhere there is security. Everj^where the law 
reaches to the highest, and reaches to the lowest, to protect all 
iu their rights, and to restrain all from wrong ; and over all 
hovers liberty, that liberty which our fathers fought and full for 
on this very spot, with her eye ever watchful, and her eagle wing 
ever wide outspread. 

The colonics of Spain, from their origin to thcu' end, were 
subject to the sovereign authoritj'' of the kingdom. Tlieir govern- 
ment, as well as their commerce, was a strict home monopoly. 
If we add to this, the established usage of filling important posts 
in the administration of the colonies exclusively by natives of 
old Spain, thus cutting off forever all hopes of honorable prefer- 
ment from every man born in the "Western hemisphere, causes 
enough rise up before us at once to account fully for the subse- 
quent history and character of these provinces. The Viceroys and 
Provincial Governors of Spain were never at home in their gov- 
ernments in America. Thej' did not feel that they were of the 
people whom they governed. Their official character and employ- 
ment have a good deal of resemblance to those of the pro-consuls 
of Rome in Asia, Sicily, and Gaul ; but obviouslj' no resemblance 
to those of Carver and Winthrop, and very little to those of the 
Governors of Virginia after that colony had established a popular 
House of Burgesses. 

The English colonists in America, generally speaking, were men 



238 Webster's oration. 

who Tvere seeking new homes in a new world. They brought with 
them their families and all that was most dear to them. This was 
especially the case with the colonists of Plymouth and Massachu- 
setts. Many of them were educated men, and all possessed their 
full share, according to their social condition, of the knowledge 
and attainments of that age. The distinctive characteristic of their 
settlement is the introduction of the civilization of Europe into a 
wilderness, without bringing with it the political institutions of 
Europe. The arts, sciences, and literature of England came over 
with the settlers. That great portion of the common law which 
regulates the social and personal relations and conduct of men 
came also. The jury came ; the habeas corpus came ; the testa- 
mentary power came ; and the law of inheritance and descent came 
also, except that part of it which recognizes the rights of pri- 
mogeniture, which either did not come at all, or soon gave way 
to the rule of equal partition of estates among children. But the 
monarchy did not come, nor the aristocracy, nor the church, as an 
estate of the realm. Political institutions were to be framed anew 
such as should be adapted to the state of things. But it could 
not be doubtful what should be the nature and character of these 
institutions. A general social equality prevailed among the settlers, 
and an equality of political rights seemed the natural, if not the 
necessary consequence. 

After forty years of revolution, violence, and war, the people 
of France have i^laced at the head of the fundamental instru- 
ment of their government, as the great boon obtained b}' all 
their sufferings and sacrifices, the declaration, that all Frenchmen 
are equal before the law. AVhat France has reached only by the 
expenditure of so much blood and treasure, and the exhibition 
of . so much crime, the English colonists obtained bj' simply 
changing then- place, carrying with them the intellectual and 
moral culture of Europe, and the personal and social relations 
to which they were accustomed, but leaving behind their political 
institutions. It has been said with much vivacity that the felicity 
of the American colonists consisted in their escape from the past. 
This is true so far as respects political establishments, but no 



APPENDIX E. 239 

further. Tlie3' brought with them a full portion of all the riches 
of the past, in science, in art, in morals, religion, and literature. 
The Bible came with them. And. it is not to be doubted that to 
the free and universal reading of the Bible, in that age, men were 
much indebted for right views of civil liberty. The Bible is a book 
of faith, and a book of doctrine, and a book of morals, and a 
book of religion, of especial revelation from God ; but it is also 
a book which teaches man his own individual responsibility, his 
own dignity, and his equality with his fellow-man. 

Bacon, and Locke, and Milton, and Shakspere, also came with 
the colonists. These colonists came to form new political systems, 
but all that belonged to cultivated man, to famih', to neighbor- 
hood, to social relations, accompanied them. In the Doric phrase 
of one of our own historians, " they came to settle on bare 
creation " ; bat their settlement in the wilderness, nevertheless, was 
not a lodgement of nomade tribes, a mere resting-place of roaming 
savages. It was the beginning of a permanent community, the fixed 
residence of cultivated men. Not only was English literature read, 
but English, good English, was spoken and written, before the 
axe had made way to let in the sun upon the habitations and 
fields of Plymouth and Massachusetts. And whatever may be said 
to tlie contrary, a correct use of the English language is, at this 
day, more general throughout the United States than it is through- 
out England herself. 

But another grand characteristic is, that, in the English colonies, 
political affairs were left to be managed by the colonists themselves. 
This is another fact wholly distinguishing them in character, as it 
has distinguished them in fortune, from the colonists of Spain. 
Here lies the foundation of that experience in self-government 
which has preserved order, and security, and regularity, amidst 
the play of popular institutinns. Home government was the secret 
of the prosperitj" of the North American settlements. The more 
distinguished of the New England colonists, with a most remark- 
able sagacity, and a long-sighted reach into futurity, refused to 
come to America unless they could bring with them charters pro- 
viding for the administration of their affairs in this country. They 



240 Webster's oration". 

saw, from the first, the evils of being governed in the New "World 
by counsels held in the Old. Acknowledging the general superiority 
of the crown, the}' still insisted on the right of passing local laws, 
and of local administration. And history teaches us the justice and 
the value of this determination in the example of Virginia. The 
earlj' attempts to settle that colony failed, sometimes with the most 
melancholy and fatal consequences, from want of knowledge, care, 
and attention on the part of those who had the charge of their 
affairs in England ; and it was only after the issuing of the third 
charter that its prosperity fairly commenced. The cause was, that 
by that third charter the people of Virginia (for by this time 
they deserve to be so called) were allowed to constitute and 
establish the first popular Representative Assembly which ever 
convened on this continent — the Virginia House of Burgesses. 

The great elements, then, of the American system of govern- 
ment, originally introduced by the colonies, and which were early 
in operation, and ready to be developed, more and more, as the 
progress of events should justify or demand, were : 

Escape from the existing political systems of Europe, including 
its religious hierarchies ; but the continued possession and enjoyment 
of its science and arts, its literature, and its manners ; 

Home government, or the power of making in the coIoua- the 
municipal laws which were to govern it ; 

Equality of Eights ; 

Representative Assemblies, or forms of government founded on 
popular elections. 

Few topics are more inviting, or more fit for philosophical dis- 
cussion, than the effect of institutions, founded upon these prin- 
ciples, on the happiness of mankind ; or, in other words, the 
influence of the New "World upon the Old. 

Her obligations to Europe for science and art, laws, literature, 
and manners, America acknowledges, as she ought, with respect 
and gratitude. And the people of the "United States, descendants 
of the English stock, grateful for the treasures of knowledge 
derived from their English ancestors, admit also, with thanks and 
filial regard, that among those ancestors, under the culture of 



APPENDIX E. 



241 



Hampden and Sydney, and other assiduous friends, that seed of 
popular liberty first germinated -n-hich on our soU has shot- up to 
its full height, until its branches overshadow all the land. 

But America has not failed to ma:ke returns. If she has not 
cancelled the obligation, or equalled it by others of like weight, 
she has, at least, made respectable advances towards equality. 
And she admits, that, standing in the midst of ci\'ilized nations, 
and in a civilized age — a nation among nations — there is a high 
part which she is expected to act, for the general advancement 
of human interests and human welfare. 

American mines have filled the mints of Europe with the pre- 
cious metals. The productions of the American soil and climate 
have poured out their abundance of luxuries for the tables of the 
rich, and of necessaries for the sustenance of the poor. Birds and 
animals of beauty and value have been added to the European 
stocks ; and transplantations from the transcendant and unequalled 
riches of our forests have mingled themselves profusely with the 
elms, and ashes, and druidical oaks of England. 

America has made contributions far more vast. AVho can esti- 
mate the amount, or the value, of the augmentation of the com- 
merce of the world that has resulted from America? Who can 
imagine to himself what would now be the shock to the Eastern 
continent if the Atlantic were no longer traversable, or if there 
were no longer American productions, or American markets? 

But America exercises influences, or holds out examples, for 
the consideration of the Old World, of a much higher, because 
they are of a moral and political character. 

America has furnished to Europe proof of the fact, that popular 
institutions, founded on equality and the principle of representa- 
tion, are capable of maintaining governments — able to secure the 
rights of person, property, and reputation. 

America has proved that it is practicable to elevate the mass 
of mankind — that portion which iu Europe is called the laboring, 
or lower class ; to raise them to self-respect, to make them com- 
petent to act a part iu the great right, and great duty, of 
self-government ; and this she has proved may be done by edu- 



242 Webster's ouatio:n'. 

cation and the diffusion of knowledge. She holds out fin example, — 
a thousand times more enchanting than ever was presented before, — 
to those nine-tenths of the human race who are born without 
hereditary fortune or hereditary rank. 

America has furnished to the world the character of Washington ! 
And if our American institutions had done nothing else, that alone 
would have entitled them to the respect of mankind. 

Washington! "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen ! " Washington is all our own ! Tlie enthu- 
siastic veneration and regard in which the people of the United 
States hold him, prove them to be worthj^ of such a countrj-man ; 
while his reputation abroad reflects the highest honor on his country 
and its institutions. I would cheerfully put the question to-day to 
the intelligence of Europe and the world, AVhat character of the 
century, upon the whole, stands out in the I'elief of history most 
pure, most respectable, most sublime? and I doubt not that, by a 
suffrage approaching to unanimity, the answer would be Wash- 
ington ! 

The structure now standing before us, by its uprightness, its 
solidity, its durability, is no unfit emblem of his character. His 
public virtues and public principles were as firm as the earth on 
which it stands ; his personal motives, as pure as the serene 
heaven in which its summit is lost. But, indeed, though a fit, it 
is an inadequate emblem. Towering high above the column which 
our hands have builded, beheld, not bj^ the inhabitants of a single 
city or a single State, but by all the families of man, ascends 
the colossal grandeur of the character and life of Washington. 
In all the constituents of the one — in all the acts of the other 
— in all its titles to immortal love, admiration, and renown — it is 
an American production. It is the embodiment and vindication of 
our transatlantic liberty. 

Born upon our soil — of parents also born upon it — never 
for a moment having had sight of the Old World — instructed, 
according to the modes of his time, only in the spare, plain, 
but wholesome elemcntarj' knowledge which our institutions pro- 
vide for the children of the people ; growing up beneath and 



APPENDIX E. 243 

penetrated by tlie genuine influences of American society- ; living 
from infancy to manliood, and age, amidst our expanding, but 
not luxurious, civilization ; partaking in our great destiny of 
labor, our long contest -with unreclaimed nature and uncivilized 
man ; our agony of glory, the War of Independence ; our great 
victory of peace, the formation of the Union, and the establish- 
ment of the Constitution — he is all — all our own ! Wash- 
ington is ours. That crowded and glorious life — 

" Where multitudes of virtues passeJ along, 
Eacli pressing foremost, in tlie mighty throng 
Ambitious to be seen, then making room 
Por greater multitudes that were to come ; " 

that life was the life of an American citizen. 

I claim him for America. In all the perils, in everj' darkened 
moment of the State, in the midst of the reproaches of enemies 
and the misgiving of friends, I turn to that transcendent name 
for courage and for consolation. To him who denies, or doubts, 
whether our fervid liberty can be combined with law, with order, 
with the security of property, with the pursuits and advancement 
of happiness ; to him who denies that our institutions are capable 
of producing exaltation of soul, and the passion of true glory — 
to him who denies that we have contributed anything to the 
stock of great lessons and great examples — to all these I reply 
by pointing to Washington ! 

And now, friends and fellow-citizens, it io time to bring this 
discourse to a close. 

We have indulged in gratifying recollections of the past, in the 
prosperity and pleasures of the present, and in high hopes of the 
future. But let us remember that we have duties aud obligations 
to perform corresponding to the blessings which we enjoj^ Let us 
remember the trust, the sacred trust, attaching to the rich in- 
heritance which we have received from our fathers. Let us feel 
our personal responsibility, to the full extent of our power and 
influence, for the preservation of our institutions of civil and 



244 



webstek's OKATION'. 



religious liberty. And let us remember that it is only religion, 
and morals, and knowledge, that can make men resj^ectable and 
happy under any fonn of government. Let us hold fast the great 
truth, that communities are responsible, as well as individuals ; that 
no government is respectable which is not just ; that without un- 
spotted purity of public faith, without sacred public principle, 
fidelity, and honor, no mere forms of government, no machinery 
of laws, can give dignity to political society. In our day and 
generation let us seek to raise and improve the moral sentiment, 
so that we may look, not for a degraded, but for an elevated 
and improved future, y And when we, and our children, shall all 
have been consigned to the house appointed for all living, may 
love of country — and pride of country — glow with equal fervor 
among those to whom our names and our blood shall have de- 
scended ! And then, when honored and decrepid age shall lean 
against the base of this monument, and troops of ingenuous j'outh 
shall be gathered round it, and when the one shall speak to the 
other of its objects, the purposes of its construction, and the great 
and glorious events with which it is connected — there shall rise, 
from every youthful breast, the ejaculation — "Thank God, I — I 

also AJI AN AlIEKICAN." 




GREKNOUGH'3 DESIGN FOR. C0RXER3 OF PLATFORM. 



APPEXDIX F. 



GRANDMOTHEE'S STORY OF EUNKER HILL 

BATTLE, 

AS SHE SAW IT FROM THE BELFRY.' 



Br Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



'Tis lilie stirring liviag embers wheu, at eighty, one remembers 

All the achings aud the quakiags of " the times that trial msa's soiils ; " 

When I tallc of Whirj aud Tory, when I tell the R-hel story, 

To YOU the words are ashes, but to me they're buruiug coals. 

I had heard the muskets' rattle of the April ruuuiug battle ; 
Lord Percy's hunted soldiers, I can see their red coats still ; 
But a deadly chill comes o'er me, as the day looms up before me, 
When a thousand men lay bleeding on the slopes of Bunker's Hill. 

'Twas a peaceful summer's morning, when the first thing gave us 

warning 
Was the booming of the cannon from the river and the shore : 
" Child," saj's grandma, " what's the matter, what is all this noise aud 

clatter ? 
Have those scalping Indian devils come to murder us once more?" 

Poor old soul ! my sides were shaking in the midst of all ray quaking. 
To hear her tallv of Indians when the guns begau to roar : 
She had seen the burning village, and the slaughter aud the pillage. 
When the Mohawks kUled her father with their buUets through his door. 

1 Copyriy:ht, 1ST5, by James R. Osgood & Co. Used by permissiou of, and by arrangement with, 
Messrs. Hougbton, MltHln £c Co. 

(245) 



2J:6 geatstdmother's stort. 

Then I said, " Now, dear old granny, don't you fret and worry any, 
For I'll soon come back and tell you whether this is work or play ; 
There can't be mischief in it, so I won't be gone a minute " — 
For a minute then I started. I was gone the livelong day. 

No time for bodice-lacing or for looking-glass grimacing ; 
Down my hair went as I hurried, tumbling half-way to my heels ; 
God forbid your ever knowing, when there's blood around her flowing. 
How the lonely, helpless daughter of a quiet household feels ! 

In the street I heard a thumping ; and I knew it was the stumping 
Of the Corporal, our old neighbor, on that wooden leg he wore, 
With a knot of women round him, — it was lucky I had found him, 
So I followed with the others, and the Corporal marched before. 

They were making for the steeple, — the old soldier and his people ; 
The pigeons circled round us as we climbed the creaking stair, 
Just across the narrow river — Oh, so close it made me shiver ! — 
Stood a fortress on the hill-top that but yesterday was bare. 

Not slow our eyes to find it ; well we knew who stood behind it. 
Though the earthwork hid them from us, and the stubborn walls were 

dumb : 
Here were sister, wife, and mother, looking wild upon each other. 
And their lips were white with terror as they said, the hour has come ! 

The morning slowly wasted, not a morsel had we tasted. 

And our heads were almost splitting with the cannons' deafening thrill, 

When a figure tall and stately round the rampart strode sedately ; 

It was Peescott, one since told me ; he commanded on the hill. 

Every woman's heart grew bigger when we saw his manly figure. 
With the banyan buckled round it, standing up so straight and tall ; 
Like a gentleman of leisure who is strolling out for pleasure. 
Through the storm of shells and cannon-shot he walked around the wall. 



APPEISTDIX F. 2J:7 

At eleven the streets were swarming, for the red-coats' ranks were 

forming ; 
At noon in marching order they were moving to the piers ; 
How the bayonets gleamed and glistened, as we looked far down, and 

listened 
To the trampling and the drum-beat of the belted grenadiers ! 

At length the men have started, with a cheer (it seemed faint-hearted), 
In their scarlet regimentals, with their knapsacks on their backs, 
And the reddening, rippling water, as after a sea-fight's slaughter, 
Round the barges gliding onward blushed like blood along their tracks. 

So they crossed to the other border, and again they formed in order ; 
And the boats came back for soldiers, came for soldiers, solc'iers still : 
The time seemed everlasting to us women faint and fasting, — 
At last they're moving, marching, marching proudly up the hill. 

We can see the bright steel glancing all along the lines advancing — 
Now the front rank fires a volley — they have thrown away their shot ; 
For behind their earthwork lying, all the balls above them flying. 
Our people need not hurry ; so they wait and answer not. 

Then the Corporal, our old cripple (he would swear sometimes and 

tipple),— 
He had heard the bullets whistle (in the old French war) before, — 
Calls out in words of jeering, just as if they all were hearing, — 
And his wooden leg thumps fiercely on the dusty belfry floor : — 

" Oh ! Are away, ye villains, and earn King George's shillin's. 
But ye'U waste a ton of powder afore a ' rebel ' falls : 
You may bang the dirt and welcome, they're as safe as Dan'l Malcolm 
Ten foot beneath the gravestone that you've splintered with your 
balls ! " 

In the hush of expectation, in the awe and trepidation 
Of the dread approaching moment, we are well-nigh breathless all ; 
Though the rotten bars are failing on the ricliety belfry railing. 
We are crowding up against them like the waves against a wall. 



248 GEAISTDMOTHER'S STORT. 

Just a glimpse (the air is clearer) , they are nearer, — nearer, — nearer, 
"When a flash — a curling smoke-wreath — then a crash — the steeple 

shakes — 
The deadly truce is ended ; the tempest's shroud is rended ; 
Lilie a morning mist it gathered, like a thundei'-cloud it breaks ! 

O the sight our eyes discover as the blue-black smoke blows over ! 
The red-coats stretched in windrows as a mower ralces his hay ; 
Here a scarlet heap is lying, there a headlong crowd is flying 
Like a billow that has broken and is shivered into spray. 

Then we cried, "The troops are routed! they are beat — it can't be 

doubted ! 
God be thanked, the fight is over ! " — Ah ! the grim old soldier's smile ! 
" Tell us, tell us why you look so? " (we could hardly speak, we shook 

so),— 
"Are they beaten? Are they beaten? Ake they beaten?" — " '\Vait 

a whQe." 

O the trembling and the terror ! for too soon we saw our error : 
They are baffled, not defeated ; we have driven them back in vain ; 
And the columns that were scattered, round the colors that were 

tattered. 
Toward the sullen silent fortress turn their belted breasts again. 

All at once, as we are gazing, lo ! the roofs of Charlestown blazing ! 

They have fired the harmless village ; in an hour it wOl be down ! 

The Lord in Heaven confound them, rain his fire and brimstone round 

them, — 
The robbing, murdering red-coats that would burn a peaceful town I 

Thej' are marching, stern and solemn ; we can see each massive column 
As they near the naked earth-mound with the slanting walls so steep. 
Have our soldiers got faint-hearted, and in noiseless haste departed? 
Are they panic-struck and helpless? Are they palsied or asleep? 



APPE^TDIX r, 249 

Now ! the walls they're almost under ! scarce a rod the foes asunder ! 
Nor a firelock flashed against them ! up the earthwork they will swarm ! 
But the words have scarce been spoken, when the ominous calm is 

broken, 
And a bellowing crash has emptied all the vengeance of the storm ! 

So again, with murderous slaughter, pelted backwards to the water, 

Fly Pigot's running heroes and the frightened braves of Howe ; 

And we shout, " At last they're done for, it's then- barges they have 

run for : 
They are beaten, beaten, beaten ; and the battle's over now I " 

And we looked, poor timid creatures, on the rough old soldier's features, 

Our lips afraid to question, but he knew what we would ask : 

"Not sure," he said; "keep quiet, — once more, I guess, they'll try 

it — 
Here's damnation to the cut-throats ! " then he handed me his flask, 

Saying, " Gal, you're looking shaky ; have a drop of old Jamaiky ; 
I'm afeard there'll be more trouble afore the job is done ; " 
So I took one scorching swallow ; dreadful faint I felt and hollow, 
Standing there from early morning when the firing was begun. 

All through those hours of trial I had watched a calm clock dial, 

As the hands kept creeping, creeping, — they were creeping round to 

four, 
"When the old man said, " They're forming with their bagonets fixed for 

storming : 
It's the death-grip that's a coming, — they wUl tiy the works once 

more." 

"With brazen trumpets blaring, the flames behind them glaring. 
The deadly wall before them, in close array they come ; 
Still onward, upward toiling, like a dragon's fold uncoiling, — 
Like the rattlesnake's shrill warning the reverberating drum ! 



250 GRAIiTDMOTHER's STORY. 

Over heaps all torn and gory — shall I tell the fearful story, 

How they surged above the breastwork, as a sea breaks over a deck ; 

How, driven, yet scarce defeated, our worn-out men retreated. 

With their powder-horns all emptied, like the swimmers from a wreck? 

It has all been told and painted ; as for me, they say I fainted, 
And the wooden-legged old Corporal stumped with me down the stair : 
When I woke from dreams affrighted the evening lamps were lighted, — 
On the floor a youth was lying ; his bleeding breast was bare. 

And I heard through all the flurry, " Send for Waeren ! hurry ! hurry ! 
Tell him here's a soldier bleeding, and he'll come and dress his wound ! " 
Ah, we knew not till the morrow told its tale of death and sorrow. 
How the starlight found him stiffened on the dark and bloody ground. 

"WTio the youth was, what his name was, where the place from which 

he came was. 
Who had brought him from the battle, and had left him at our door. 
He could not speak to tell us ; but 'twas one of our brave fellows. 
As the homespun plainly showed us which the dying soldier wore. 

For they all thought he was dying, as they gathered round him crjing, — 
And they said, "Oh, how they'll miss him!" and, "What will his 

mother do? " 
Then his eyelids just unclosing lilie a child's that has been dozing. 
He faintly murmured, " Mother ! " and — I saw his eyes were blue. 

— "Why, grandma, how you're winking ! " — Ah, my child, it sets me 

thinking 
Of a story not like this one. Well, he somehow lived along ; 
So we came to know each other, and I nursed him lilve a — mother, 
Till at last he stood before me, tall, and rosy-cheeked, and strong. 

And we sometimes walked together in the pleasant summer weather ; 

— " Please to tell us what his name was? " — Just your own, my little 

dear, — 
There's his picture Copley painted : we became so well acquainted, 
That, — in short, that's wliy I'm grandma, and you children all are 

here I 



APPEXDIX G. 



As this book is especially devoted to the actions of the ranii and 
file of our army, the following items may be of interest as showing 
the manual of arms in use at that pei^od. Our Colonial troops were 
undoubtedly drilled upon the English pattern, or, if not, we are 
naturally interested to know the precision of drill attained by those 
regular troops with which our volunteers were confronted. 

In 1743 there was printed here a book with the title, "An Ab- 
stract of Military Discipline ; more particularlj' with Regard to the 
ManueZ (sic) Exercise, Evolutions, and Firings of the FOOT, from 
Col. Bland. Boston, Printed by Rogers & Fowle, for D. Hench- 
man in Coruhill, 1743. sm. 8vo., pp. 64." This was doubtless 
the text-book in use by our companies, training in every vUlage. 
In the "London Magazine and Monthly Chi'onologer " for 174G, 
I find the following eight pages of illustrations of the Manual 
Exercise of the Foot-Guards, which is identical with Col. Bland's 
treatise as reprinted, except that the latter confessedly omits the 
baj'ouet exercise. This Manual indeed is of earlier date, as I find 
in '• Notes and Queries," 2d S., vol. ix., pp. 76, 77, and 109, the 
" Exercise that was Introduced in Flanders, by Lieut. Gen. Ingoldsby, 
in 1706-7." The orders are almost identical with those used in 
1740, and we thus are jDresented with a lively picture of the English 
soldier during the whole period from Marlborough's "Wars to our 
Revolution. 

There is indeed a possibility that our troops had, at least in part, 
been instructed under a simpler form. In 1768 there appeared in 
Boston a book thus entitled : ' ' [The i\Ianual Exercise] extracted 
from the Plan of Discipline, for the Norfolk Militia. Boston : New 
England : Printed bj' Richard Draper, Printer to His Excellency the 
Governor and the Honorable His Majesty's Council, 1768. Sold at 
his Printing-Offlce in Newbury-Street. Price, One Pistareen. small 
8vo., pp. 104." 

(251) 



lie Manual Exercise of tke Foot Guards. 






S 




" M^^^ 





J Take Caro. 2 Join your Right-Hand to your Firelock. 3 ?c\(e your Firelock' 

4 Join your Ltft-Hand to your firelock, 5 Cock your f irdock. 6 Prcfcnt. Fire. 



(252) 



^he Manual Exercise of the Foot Guards. 




T. Kecover your Arras. Sci Fig. 12; Halfcock your Fire.'oirk. S. Handle your 

Primer. 9. Pnme, r*f /'r/? Msr/oi. 10. Pnmc, tic hj] Afonen. 11, Shirt you" 

^Jni. 12. Caft about to thirge, itt jirjl Mat:(in. 

(233) 



TJJ'f Manual Exercise, (3c. 




); CaA ahnur toctjsrge. 14. Handle j-our Cartridge. 1 1; Open your Cartridga ^ 

f6 Chargf With Cartridge. 17 Draw >our Rammer, ibejirfi Mcricn, }8 Dra^tf 

yoyr Rammer, ttf hjl Mciiaa: 



(254) 



7:5if Manual Exercise of the Foot Guards. 





21 




22, 




23 




a4 




J9 Shorten your Rammer, f*</r/? Bfofi'tm. jo Shorten your Rammer. 21 Put 
them in the Barrel. 12 Ram down your Charge. 23 Recover your Rammer 

Shorfsn your Rarmisr. Sk Fig. 19, 24. Return your Ranamer. 



(255) 



^e Manual Exercise, tfc. 



15 





27 




28 




ap 



30 





15. Caft off your Firelock. Set Fig. 73. Your right Hand under your LocICi 
;C6. Poife. Si-c Fig. 7.. Shoulder. See Fig. i. Reft your Firelock. 27. Order your 
Firelock, ibefrjl Msnan. 28. Order your Firelock, iht bft Mouon. 19. Groviod 

your Firelock. Take up your Firelock. Sec Fi^. ^%. 30. Reft. Sec Fig. zb, Cluh. 

your Firelock, ibe f)Ji Mumn. 

(23G) 



The Manual Exercise of the Foot-Guards. 




32 




33 






2<r 




31. Club your Firelock, the third IfXctimi. ' 32. Club your Firelock, the lafl Metioit, 

33. Reft. Sa Fig. i6. Secure your Fiiitlock. 34. Shoulder. Sse Fig, i. Poife. 

Sie Fig. 3. Reft on your Arms. 35. Draw your Bayor.et, tUfrft M»im, 36, Draw 
your Bayonet. 

(257) 



7^1? Manual Exercise, CsFf, 




37 Ttx your Bayonet. 38 Reft your Bayonet. 3<» Charge your Biyonet 

Bfeaft-high. ibt jectttd Mmic, 4.0 Charge your Bayonot Breaft-bi^. 41 Puft) 

jiowr BayoneJ, 41 Recover youi Bayonet, 

(258) 



Tie Manual Exercise of the Foot Guards. 




4J 






47 





4j Refi your Bayonft on your Left Arm. 44 Reft, fee Fig. 26. Shoulder, fit 

Fig. I. Prefent your Arms. 45 To the Right 4 TFmes. 46 To the Right aboat. 
47 To the left as ^ou were, fie Fig. 44. To th: Left 4 Times. 48 To th« Left 

about, _/>? T;^. 46. To the Right as you were, /« Fif. 44. Poik, fie Fig. 3. Reft 
on your Arms, /re Fig. 54. Unfix your Bayonet. Return youf Ba^ronet; fie Fig. 35* 
Poife, fif Fig. 3. Shoulder, fie Fig. t. 



260 



KEVOLUTIOKAET ARlvrY EEGULATIONS. 



It appears that in August, 1774, the Worcester county Con- 
vention voted "that the Norfolk exercise be adopted" (Journal, 
p. 639) ; and again " to request the Provincial Congress to 
-establish the Norfolk exercise with such alterations as they shall 
think proper, instead of the exercise of 1764." (Journal, p. 646.) 
The First Provincial Congress (Journal, p. 41) had on Oct. 28, 
1774, resolved " That it be recommended to the inhabitants of this 
province, that in order to their perfecting themselves in the military 
art, they proceed in the method ordered by his majesty in the 
year 1764, it being, in the opinion of this Congress, best calculated 
for appearance and defence." Nov. 25, the Worcester petition ■was 
received and referred; Dec. 9, a special committee was directed to 
consider it, and also "a plan of military exercise proposed by Capt. 
Timothy Pickering." Dec. 8, the committee reported, " the report 
was read and accepted," but what it was, is not stated. (Jour- 
nal, pp. 41, 48, 50, 67, 74.) 

To return to the manual possibly in use in 1775. The Norfolk 
system was in use in the county of Norfolk, England. The Boston 
reprint of 1768 has the following preface : " The following Exercise 
originally designed for the Norfolk Militia, being found to be more 
concise and easy, and thereby better adapted to Militia than any 
other ; I do hereby direct and order that it be used by the Officers 
of all the Regiments of Foot within this Province, in training the 
Soldiers under their several Commands. Fra. Barnard. Boston, 
May 2, 1768." 



Fix your Bayonets. 

Shoulder. 

f Carry your Firelocks on 
I your right arms. 

Shoulder. 

Present your Arms. 

Face to the Right. 

To the Right. 

To tlie Right about. 

Face to the Left. 



This Manual 


s : — 






1. Rest 






11. 


2. Order 






12. 


3. Ground 

4. Take up 






13. 


5. Rest 


■ Your 


Firelocks. 


14. 


6. Shoulder 






15. 


7. Club 






16. 


8. Shoulder 






17. 


9. Secure 






18. 


0. Shoulder. 






19. 



APPENDIX G. 



261 



20. 


To the Left 




21. 


To the Left 


about. 


22. 


Charge your 


Bayonets 


23. 


Eecover you 


r Arms. 


24. 


Prime and Load. 


25. 


Shoulder. 




26. 


As Front 
Eeady. 


Eank , i 


27. 


Present. 




28. 


Fh-e. 




29. 


Shoulder. 




30. 


As Center 
Eeady. 


Rank, i 


31. 


Present. 




32. 


Fh-e. 




33. 


Shoulder. 




34. 


As Eear Rank, i 




Eeadj'. 





make 



make 



make 



35. Present. 

36. Fire. 

37. Shoulder. 

38. Eear Eauks, close to 

Front, March. 

39. Make Eeady. 

40. Present. 

41. Fire. 

42. Charge your Bayonets. 

43. Eecover your Arms. 

44. Eear Eanks, take 

former Distance. 

45. March. 

46. Halt, Front. 

47. Shut your Pans. 

48. Shoulder. 

49. Eeturn your Bayonets 

50. Shoulder. 



the 



you 



The Continental Army -n-as finally drilled under the Manual 
introduced by Baron Steuben. It was prescribed by Congress 
March 29, 1779, and one of the early editions of the Eegulations 
was printed in 1793 at Boston " printed and sold by John W. Folsom, 
Union street, sold also by John Norman, Newbury street." It con- 
tains 8 plates. Another edition was issued in 1794 at Boston, for 
David West, No. 36 Marlborough St., and John West, No. 75 Corn- 
hill. Doolittle engraved the plates. It contains also the United 
States Militia Act of May 8, 1792, the Massachusetts Act of June 
22, 1793, and the Articles of War of Oct. 24, 1786. The Massachu- 
setts Act, § 28, declared the United States rules and regulations should 
be observed by the mUitia, and that everj' commissioned officer should 
" immediately provide himself with a book containing those rules." 

In 1802, William Norman, Book and Chart Seller, published at 
Boston a new edition, containing -'nine copper- plates, including a 
plate exhibiting the various motions of the Manual Exercise." 
Probably the new plates were engraved by John Norman. 



262 



EEVOLUTIOSTAEY ARMY EEGULATIONS. 



This extra plate, as it gives a lively picture of the so-called 
Continental costume, as well as the Manual, is here reproduced. 

In 1807, William Pelham, of Boston, printed a new edition with 
Norman's plates, "the whole published under the inspection of the 
Adjutant-General of Massachusetts." In the same year Backus & 
Whiting, of Albany, issued an edition, perhaps not the first, of the 
Regulations, with different engravings. I am informed by high 
authority, that portions of Steuben's rules still stand unchanged 
in the present U.S. Manual. 

That a great change took place later on is e%'ident from " A 
General System of British Tactics and Military Arrangement " &c. , 
published by T. Egerton in London, in 1809, and prepared by Capt. 
J. H. Whitmore. The Manual Exercise is thus set forth — 



Secure Arms. 
Shoulder Arms. 
Order Arms. 
Fix Bayonets. 
Shoulder Arms. 
Present Arms. 
Shoulder Arms. 
Port Arms. 
Charge Bayonets. 
Shoulder Arms. 
Advance Arms. 
Shoulder Arms. 
Support Arms. 

We pass from this detail, to the actual Articles of War under 
which our troops were enlisted, and by which they were governed 
at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. Feb. 9, 1774, the Pro- 
vincial Congress appointed Col. Palmer, Col. Cushiug and Mr. 
[Nathan] Cushing of Scituate, a committee " to prepare all such 
rules and regulations, for the officers and men of the constitutional 
army which may be raised iu this province, as shall be necessary 
for the good order thereof." April 5th, their report was read and 
passed and is set forth ni the Journal, pp. 120-129. It was also 
printed in a pamphlet shape and is here reprinted. 



Carry Arms. 

Make Ready. 

Present. 

Fire. 

Load. 

Handle cartridge. 

Prime. 

About. 

Draw ramrods. 

Ram down cartridge. 

Return ramrods. 

Shoulder Arms. 



U.Coc 



rlrid^ i 



APPENDIX G. 2G3 

EULES AND REGULATIONS 

FOR THE 

MASSACHUSETTS ARMY. 



Published by Order. 



SALEJI : 
Feinted by Sajicel asd Ebesezeb Hall. 

1775. 



IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, 

CoxcoRD, April 5th, 1775. 

WHEREAS the Lust of Power, ichicli of old ojypressed, persecuted 
and exiled our pious and virtuoics Ancestors, from their fair Pos- 
sessions in Britain, now pursues, ivith tenfold Severity, us, their guiltless 
Children, who are unjustly and wickedly charged icilh Licentiousness, Se- 
dition, Treason and Rebellion; and being deeply impressed icith a Sense 
of the almost incredible Fatigues and JIa>-dshi2>s our venerable Progenitors 
encountered, toho fled from Oppression for the sake of civil and religious 
Liberty for themselves and their Offspring, and began a Settlement here, 
on bare Creation, at their own Expence; and having seriously considered 
the duty we owe to GOD, to the Memoi~y of such invincible Worthies, to the 
King, to Great-Britain, our Country, ourselves and Posterity, do think it 
an indis2Jensable Duty, by all lawful Ways and Ifeans in our Power, to 
recover, maintain, defend and preserve, the free exercise of all those civil 
and religious Rights and Liberties for tvhich many of our Fore-Fathers 
fought, — bled — and died; and to hand them down entire for the free En- 
joyment of the latest Posterity : And ichereas the keeping of a standing 
Army iyi any of these Colonies in Times of Peace, ivithout the Consent of 
the Legislature of that Colony in which such an Army is kept, is against 
Law: And wliereas such an Army, with a large naval Force, is noiu placed 
in the Harbour of Boston, for the purpose of subjecting us to the Power of 
the British Parliament: And whereas ice are frequently told by the Tools of 
Administration, Dupes to ministerial Usurpation, that Great-Britain will 
not, in any Degree, relax in her Measures, until ive acknowledge her '' Right 
to make Laws binding upon us in all Cases whatsoever ; " and that if loe 



2G4 KEVOLUTIOXAIIY AliMT REGUX,ATIOXS. 

refuse to he Slaves, if ice persist in our Denial of her Claim, tlie Dispute 
must be decided bij Arms, in ivhich, 'tis said by our Enemies, — " We shall 
" have no Chance, being undisciplined, Cowards, disobedient, impatient 
"of Command, and possessed of that Spirit of levelling which admits of 
" no Order, Subordination, Rule or Government : " — And ivliereas, from 
the ministerial Army and Fleet now at Boston, the large Reinforcement 
of Troops expected, the late circular Letters to the Governors upon the Con- 
tinent, the genercd Tenor of Intelligence from Great-Britain, and the hos- 
tile Preparations making here, as also from the Tlireats and frequent 
Insults of our Enemies in the capital Town, we have Reason to appirehend 
that the sudden Destruction of this Colony is in Contemplation, if not deter- 
mined upon : 

And ivhereas the great Law of Self-preservation may suddenly require 
our raising and keeping an Army of Observation and Defence, in order to 
prevent, or repel, any farther Attempts to enforce the late cruel and oppires- 
sive Acts of the British Parliament, which are evidently designed to subject 
us and the ichole Continent to the most ignominious Slavei-y : And whereas, 
in Case of raising and keeping such an Army, it uill be necessary that the 
Officers and Soldiers in the same be fully acquainted icith their Duty, and 
that the Articles, Rules and Regxdations thereof be made as plain asjws- 
sible; and having great confidence in the Honour and j^ublick Virtue of 
the Inhabitants of this Colony, that they will readily obey the Officers 
chosen by themselves, and loill cheerfully do their Didy, when known, with- 
out any such severe Articles and Rules {except in capital Cases) and cruel 
Punishments as are usucdly practised in standing Armies, and ivill submit 
t-o cdl such Rules and Regxdations as are founded in Reason, Honour and 
Virtue : 

It is therefore RESOLVED, That the following Articles, Rules and 
Regulations for the Army, that may be raised for the Defence and Security 
of our Lives, Liberties and Estates, be, and hereby are earnestly recom- 
mended, to be strictly adhered to by all Officers, Soldiers and others con- 
cerned, as they regard their oivn Honour and the publick Good. 

Article 1. All OfHcers and Soldiers, not having just impediment, 
shall diligently frequent Divine Service and Sermon in the Places ap- 
pointed for the assembling of the Regiment, Troop or Company to which 
they belong ; and such as wilfully absent themselves, or being present, 
behave indecently or irreverently, shall, if commissioned Officers, be 
brought before a regimental Court- Martial, there to be publicly and 
severely reprimanded by the President ; if non-commissioned Officers, or 
Soldiers, everv Person so offending shall for his first Offence forfeit One 
Shilliug to be deducted out of his Wages ; — for the second Offence he 



APPEXDLS: G. 265 

shall not only forfeit One Shilling, but be confined, not esceediug 
twenty-four Hours ; and for everj' like Offence shaU suffer and pay in 
like Manner, which Money, so forfeited, shall be applied to the Use of 
the sick Soldiers of the Troop or Company to which the Offender 
belongs. 

Art. 2. Whatsoever non-commissioned Officer or Soldier shall use 
any unlawful Oath or Execration, shall incur the Penalties expressed in 
the first Article ; and if a commissioned Officer be thus guilty of profane 
Cursing or Swearing, he shall forfeit and pay for each and everj' such 
Offence the Sum of Four Shillings, lawful Money. 

Ajit. 3. Any Officer or Soldier, who shaU. behave himself with Con- 
tempt or Disrespect towards the General or Generals, or Commanders 
in Chief of the Massachusetts Forces, or shall speak "Words tending to 
his or their Hurt or Dishonour, shall be punished according to the Nature 
of his Offence, by the Judgment of a general Court-Martial. 

Art. 4. Anj' Officer or Soldier, who shall begin, excite, cause or 
join in any Mutiny or Sedition, in the Regiment, Troop or Company to 
which he belongs, or in any other Regiment, Troop or Company of the 
Massachusetts Forces, either b}' Land or Sea, or in any Party, Post, 
Detachment, or Guard, on any Pretence whatsoever, shall suffer such 
Punishment as by a general Court-Martial shall be ordered. 

Art. 5. Any Officer, non-commissioned Officer, or Soldier, who 
being present at anj' Mutiny, or Sedition, does not use his utmost En- 
deavours to suppress the same, or coming to the Knowledge of any 
Mutinj', or intended Mutiny, does not, without Delay, give Information 
thereof to the commanding Officer, shall be punished by Order of a gen- 
eral Court-Martial according to the Nature of his Offence. 

Akt. G. Auj' Officer or Soldier, who shall strike his superior Officer, 
or draw or offer to draw, or shall lift up any Weapon, or offer anj' Vio- 
lence against him, being in the Execution of his Office, on any Pretence 
whatsoever, or shall disobey any lawful Commands of his superior Offi- 
cer, shall suffer such Punishment as shall, according to the Nature of his 
Offence, be ordered by the Sentence of a general Court-Martial. 

Art. 7. Any non-commissioned Officer or Soldier, who shall desert, 
or without Leave of his commanding Officer, absent himself from the 
Troop or Company to which he belongs, or from any Detachment of the 
same, shall, upon being convicted thereof, be punished according to the 
Nature of his Offence, at the Discretion of a general Court-Martial. 

Art. 8. Whatsoever Officer or Soldier shall be convicted of having 
advised or persuaded anj- other Officer or Soldier to desert, shall suffer 
such Punishment as shall be ordered by the Sentence of a general Court- 
Martial. 



2GG 



REVOLUTIOXAKY AEJIY KEGULATIOXS. 



Aet. 9. All Officers, of what Condition soever, shall have Power to 
part and Quell all Quarrels, Frays, and Disorders, though the Persons 
concerned should belong to another Regiment, Troop or Company ; and 
either order Officers to be arrested, or non-commissioned Officers or 
Soldiers to be confined and imprisoned, till their proper superior Officers 
shall be acquainted therewith ; and whoever shall refuse to obey such 
Officer (though of an inferior Rank) or shall draw his Sword upon him, 
shall be punished at the Discretion of a general Court-3Iartial. 

Akt. 10. No Officer or Soldier shall use any reproachful or provok- 
ing Speeches or Gestures to another ; nor shall presume to send a 
Challenge to any Person to fight a Duel : And whoever shall knowingly ' 
and willingly suffer any Person whatsoever to go forth to fight a Duel ; ' 
or shall second, promote, or carry any Challenge, shall be deemed as a 
Principal : And whatsoever Officer or Soldier shall upbraid another for 
refusing a Challenge, shall also be considered as a Challenger : And all 
such offenders, in any of these or such like Cases, shall be punished at 
the Discretion of a general Court-Martial. 

Art. 11. Every Officer commanding in Quarters, or on a March, 
shall keep good Order, and, to the utmost of his Power, redress all such 
Abuses, or Disorders, which may be committed by any Officer or Soldier 
under his command ; if upon any Complaint made to him of Officers or 
Soldiers beating, or otherwise ill-treating any Person, or of committing 
any Kind of Riot, to the disquieting of the Inhabitants of this Continent ; 
he the said Commander, who shall refuse or omit to see Justice done on 
tlie Offender or Offenders, and Reparation made to the Party or Parties 
injured, as far as the Offenders Wages shall enable him or them, shall, 
upon due Proof thereof, be punished as Ordered by a general Court- 
Martial, in such Manner as if he himself had committed the Crimes or 
Disorders complained of. 

AiiT. 12. If any Officer should think himself to be wronged by his 
Colonel or the commanding Officer of the Regiment, and shall, upon due 
Application made to him, be refused to be redressed, he may complain 
to the General or Commander in Chief of the Massachusetts Forces, in 
order to obtain Justice, who is hereby required to examine into said" 
Complaint, and see that Justice be done. .' 

Art. 13. If any inferior Officer, or Soldier, shall think himself' 
wronged by his Captain or other Officer commanding the troop or Com- 
pany to which he belongs, he is to complain thereof to the commanding 
Officer of the Regiment, who is hereby required to summon a regimental 
Court- ^Martial, for the doing Justice to the Complainant ; from which 
regimental Court-Martial, either Party may, if he thinks himself 
still aggi'ieved, appeal to a general Court-Martial ; but if, upon a second 



APPENDIX G. 2G7 

Hearing, the Appeal shall appear to be vexatious aud groundless, the 
Person so appealing shall be punished at the Discretion of the general 
Court-Martial. 

Akt. 14. Whatsoever uon-commissioned Officer, or Soldier, shall be 
convicted, at a regimental Court-Martial, of having sold, or design- 
edly, or through neglect, wasted the Ammunition, Arms, or Provisions, 
or other Military Stores, delivered out to him, to be employed in the 
Service of this Colony, shall, if an officer, be reduced to a private 
Ceutinel ; and if a private Soldier, shall suffer such Punishment as shall 
be ordered by a regimental Court-Martial. 

Art. 15. AU non-commissioned Officers and Soldiers, who shall be 
found one ilUe from Camp, without Leave in writing from their com- 
manding Officer, shall suffer such Punishment as shall be inflicted on 
Mm or them by the Sentence of a regimental Court-Martial. 

Art. 16. No Officer or Soldier shall lie out of his Quarters or Camp 
without Leave from the commanding Officer of the Regiment, upon Pen- 
alty of being punished according to the Nature of his Offence, by Order 
of a regimental Court-Martial. 

Akt. 17. Every non-commissioned Officer and Soldier shall retire to 
his Quarters, or Tent, at the beating of the Retreat ; in Default of which, 
he shall be punished according to the Nature of his Offence, by Order of 
the commandmg Officer. 

Art. 18. No Officer, non-commissioned Officer, or Soldier, shall fail 
of repairing, at the Time fixed, to the Place of Parade or Exercise, or 
other Rendezvous appointed by the commanding Officer, if not prevented 
by Sickness, or some other evident Xecessitj^ ; or shall go from the said 
Place of Rendezvous, or from his Guard, without Leave from his com- 
manding Officer, before he shall be regularly dismissed or relieved, on 
Penalty of being punished according to the Nature of his Offence, by the 
Sentence of a regimental Court-Martial. 

Aet. 19. Whatsoever commissioned Officer shall be found drunk on 
his Guard, Part}' or other Duty, under Arms, shall be cashiered for it ; 
auy non-commissioned Officer or Soldier, so offending, shall suffer such 
Punishment as shall be ordered by the Sentence of a regimental Com-t- 
Martial. 

Art. 20. Whatsoever Centinel shall be found sleeping upon his Post, 
or shaU leave it before he shall be regularly relieved, shall suffer such 
Punishment as shall be ordered by the Sentence of a general Court- 
Martial. 

Art. 21. Any Person belonging to the Massachusetts Army, who by 
discharging of Fire-Arms, beating of Drums, or by any other Means 
whatsover, shall occasion false Alarms, in Camp or Quarters, shall suf- 



2G8 REVOLUTIOlSrAIlY AKMY KEGULATIOXS. 

fer such Punishment as shall be ordered by the Sentence of a general 
Court-jlartial. 

Art. 22. Any Officer or Soldier, who shall without urgent Necessity, 
or without Leave of his superior Officer, quit his Platoon or Division, 
shall be punished according to the Nature of his Offeuce, by the Sen- 
tence of a regimental Court-Martial. 

Art. 23. No Officer or Soldier shall do Violence, or offer auj' insult, 
or abuse, to any Person who shall bring Provisions, or other Neces- 
saries, to the Camp or Quarters of the Massachusetts Army ; any Officer 
or Soldier, so offending, shall, upon Complaint being made to the com- 
manding Officer, suffer such Punishment as shall be ordered by a regi- 
mental Court-Martial. 

Art. 24. Whatsoever Officer or Soldier shall shamefully abandon 
any Post committed to his Charge, or shall speak Words inducing others 
to do the like, in Time of an Engagement, shall suffer Death imme- 
diately. 

Art. 25. Any Person belonging to the Massachusetts Army, who 
shall make known the Watch-word to any Person who is not intitled to 
receive it, according to the Rules and Discipline of War, or who shall 
presume to give a Parole, or Watch-word different fj'om what he re- 
ceived, shall suffer Death, or such other Punishment as shall be ordered 
by the Sentence of a general Court-Martial. 

A-RT. 26. Whosoever, belonging to the Massachusetts Army, shall 
relieve the Enemy with Money, Victuals or Ammuuition, or shall know- 
ingly harbour or protect an Enemy, shall suffer such Punishment as by a 
general Court-Martial shall be ordered. 

Art. 27. Whosoever, belonging to the Massachusetts Army, shall be 
convicted of holding Correspondence with, or of giving Intelligence to 
the Enemy, either directly or indirectly, shall suffer such Punishment as 
by a general Court-Martial shall be ordered. 

Art. 28. All public Stores taken in the Enemy's Camp or Magazines, 
whether of Artillery, Ammunition, Clothing or Provisions, shall be 
secured for the Use of the Massachusetts Colony. 

Ajit. 29. If any Officer or Soldier shall leave his Post or Colours, in 
Time of an Engagement, to go in Search of Plunder, he shall, upon 
being convicted thereof before a general Court-Martial, suffer such Pun- 
ishment as by said Court-Martial shall be ordered. 

Akt. 30. K any Commander of any Post, Intrenchment or Fortress, 
BhaU be compelled, by the Officers or Soldiers under his Command, to 
give it up to the Enemy, or to abandon it, the commissioned Officer, non- 
commissioned Officers or Soldiers who shall be couvieted of having so 
offended, shall suffer Death, or such other Punishment as may be 
inflicted upon them by the Sentence of a general Court-Martial. 



APPENBIX G. 2G9 

Art. 31. All Suttlers and Retailers to a Camp, and all Persons 
■whatsoever, serving with the Massachusetts Armj-, in the Field, though 
not inlisted Soldiers, are to be subject to the Articles, Rules and Regu- 
lations of the Massachusetts Ann}^ 

AiiT. 32. No general Court-Martial shall consist of a less Number 
than thu-teen, none of -which shall be under the Degree of a commissioned 
Officer ; and the President shall be a Field Officer : And the President 
of each and everj' Court- Martial, whether general or regimental, shall 
have Power to administer an Oath to every Witness, in order to the 
Trial of Offenders. And the Members of all Courts-Martial shall be 
duly sworn by the President ; and the next in Rank on the Court- 
Martial shall administer the Oath to the President. 

Art. 33. The Members, both of general and regimental Courts- 
Martial, shall, when belonging to different Corps, take the same Rank 
which they held in the Army ; but when Courts-Martial shall be com- 
posed of Officers of one Corps, they shall take their Ranks according to 
their Commissions by which they are mustered in the said Corps. 

Art. 34. All the Members of a Court-Martial, are to behave with 
Calmness, Decency and Impartiality ; and in the giving of their Votes, 
are to begin with the j'oungest or lowest in Commission. 

Art. 35. No Field Officer shall be tried by any Person under the 
Degree of a Captain ; nor shall any Proceedings or Trials be carried ou, 
excepting between the Hours of eight in the Morning, and tlu'ee in the 
Afternoon, excepting in Cases which require an immediate Example. 

Art. 36. The Commissioned Officers of every regiment may, b^' the 
Appointment of their Colonel or Commanding Officer, hold regimental 
• Courts Martial for the enquiring into such Disputes or criminal Matters 
as may come before them, and for the inflicting corporal Punishments 
for small Offences, and shall give .Judgment by the Majority of Voices ; 
but no Sentence shall be executed till the commandiug Otlicer (not being 
a Member of the Court-Martial) sliall have confirmed the same. 

Art. 37. No regimental Court-Martial shall consist of less than live 
Officers, excepting in Cases where that Number cannot be conveniently 
assembled, when three may be sufficient ; who are likewise to determine 
upon the Sentence by the Majority of Voices ; which Sentence is to be 
confirmed by the commanding Officer, not being a Member of the Court- 
Martial. 

Art. 38. Every Officer, commanding in any Fort, Castle, or Barrack, 
or elsewhere, where the Corps under his Command consists of Detach- 
ments from different Regiments, or of independent Companies, may 
assemble Courts-Martial for the Trial of Offenders in the same Manner 
as if they were regimental, whose Sentence is not to be exectuted till 
it shall be confirmed by the said commanding Officer. 



270 EEVOLUTIOJfAEY AEMT EEGULATIOlSrS. 

Art. 39. No Person whosoever shall use menacing Words, Signs 
or Gestures in the Presence of a Court-Martial then setting, or shall 
cause any Disorder or Riot, so as to disturb their Proceedings, on the 
Penalty of being Punished at the Discretion of the said Court-Martial. 

Art. 40. To the End that Offenders may be brought to Justice ; 
whenever any Officer or Soldier shall commit a Crime deserving Punish- 
ment, he shall by his commanding Officer, if an Officer, be put in Arrest ; 
if a non-commissioned Officer or Soldier, be imprisoned till he shall be 
either tried by a Court-Martial, or shall be lawfully discharged by proper 
Authority. 

Art. 41. No Officer or Soldier who shall be put in Arrest, or Im- 
prisonment, shall continue in his Confinement more than eight Days, or 
till such Time as a Court-Martial can be conveniently assembled. 

Art. 42. No Officer commanding a Guard, or Provost-Marshal, shall 
refuse to receive or keep any Prisoner committed to his Charge, by an 
Officer belonging to the Massachusetts Forces ; which Officer shall at the 
same Time deliver an Account in Writing, signed by himself, of the 
Crime with which the said Prisoner is charged. 

Art 43. No Officer commanding a Guard, or Provost-Marshal, shall 
presume to release any Prisoner committed to his Charge, without proper 
Authority for so doing ; nor shall he suffer any Prisoner to escape, on 
the Penalty of being punished for it, by the Sentence of a general Court- 
aiartial. 

Art. 41. Every Officer or a Provost-Marshal, to whose Charge Pris- 
oners shall be committed, is hereby required, within twenty-four Hours 
after such Commitment, or as soon as he shall be relieved from his 
Guard, to give in Writing to the Colonel of the Regiment to whom the 
Prisoner belongs (where the Prisoner is confined upon the Guard belong- 
intT to the said Regiment, and that his Offence only relates to the Neglect 
of Duty in his own Corps) or to the Commander in Chief, their Names, 
their Crimes, and the Names of the Officers who commanded them, on 
the Penalty of being punished for his Disobedience or Neglect, at tlie 
Discretion of a general Court-Martial. 

Art. 45. And if any Officer under Arrest shall leave his Confinement 
before he is set at Liberty by the Officer who confined him, or by a supe- 
rior Power, he shall be cashiered for it. 

Art. 46. Whatsoever commissioned Officer shall be convicted before 
a general Court-Martial, of behaving in a scandalous, infamous Manner, 
such as is unbecoming the Cliaracter of an Offie^er and a Gentleman, 
shall be discharged from the Service. 

Art. 47. All Officers, Conductors, Gunners, !Matrosses, Drivers, or 
any other Persons whatsoever, receiving Pay or Hire, in the Service of 



APPEN"1)IX U. 



271 



the Massachusetts Artillery, shall be governed by the aforesaid Rules 
and Articles, and shall be subject to be tried by Courts-Martial, iu like 
manner with the Officers and Soldiers of the Massachusetts Troops. 

Art. 48. For Differences arising amongst themselves, or in Matters 
relating solely to their own Corps, the Courts-Martial may be comprised 
of their own Officers ; but where a Number sufficient of such Officers 
cannot be assembled, or in Matters wherein other Corps are interested, 
the Officers of Ai-tillery shall sit in Courts-Martial with the Officers of 
the other Corps. 

Art. 49. All Crimes not capital, and all Disorders and Neglects 
which Officers and Soldiers may be guilty of, to the Prejudice of good 
Order and Military Discipline, though not mentioned in the Articles of 
War, are to be taken Cognizance of by a general or regimental Conrt- 
Martial, according to the Nature and Degree of the Offence, and be pim- 
ished at their Discretion. 

Art. 50. No Courts-Martial shall order any Offender to be whipped, 
or receive, more than thirty-nine Stripes for any one Offence. 

Art. 51. The Field Officers of each and every Regiment are to 
appoint some suitable Person belonging to such Regiment, to receive all 
such Fines as may arise within the same, for any Breach of any of the 
foregoing Articles, and shall direct the same to be carefully and properly 
applied to the Relief of such sick, wounded, or necessitous Soldiers, as 
belong to such Regiments ; and such Person shall account with such 
Officer for all Fines received, and the Application thereof. 

Art. 52. All Members setting in Courts-Martial shall be sworn by 
the President of said Courts, which President shall himself be sworn by 
the OfHcer in said Court next in Rank : — The Oath to be administered 
pr3vious to their proceeding to the Trial of any Offender, in Form fol- 
lowing, viz. 

" You A B sivear that you will well and trubj try, and impartially de- 
termine the Cause of the Prisoner now to be tried, according to the Rules 
for regulating the Ifassachusetfs Army. So help you God." 

Art. 53. All Persons called to give Evidence, in any Case, before a 
Court-Martial, who shall refuse to give Evidence, shall be punished for 
such Refusal, at the Discretion of such Court-Martial : The Oath to be 
administered in the Form following, viz. 

" You sivear the Evidence you shall give in the Case now in hearing, 

shall be the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth. So help 

you God." 

Signed by Order of the Provincial Congress, 

John Hancock, President. 

A true Extract from the Blinutes, 

Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary. 



272 REVOLUTIONARY AKMY REGULATIOXS. 

We have alreadj' seen that the Secoud Provincial Congress on 
April 23rd 1775, voted that an armj^ of 30,000 men be raised, and 
tliat Massachusetts raise 13,600 as her share. April 26, 1775. 
(Journal, p. 152) voted that the companies in each regiment be 
reduced from 100 men to 59, including three officers, one captain, 
two subalterns ; and that each regiment be reduced to ten of these 
companies. 

Oct. 27, 1774, Congress chose three general officers ; viz., Jedediah 
Preble, Artemas "Ward and Seth Pomeroj'. Feb. 9, 1775, they 
chose the same and added John Thomas and William Heath. Feb. 
15th, they added John Whitcomb. Gen. Preble, owing to age 
and infirmities, declined the command, and the position devolved 
upon Gen. "SVard, who acted in this capacity April 20th, 1775 and 
thereafter, although not commissioned as General and Commander- 
in-chief of the Massachusetts forces till May 19th, 1775. 

June 14, 1775. (Journal, p. 333) .John "Whitcomb was chosen 
"first major-general of the Massachusetts Army," and Joseph "War- 
ren " secoud major-general of the Massachusetts Army." 

" The Secoud Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia 
May 10th, 1775, adopted, on the motion of John Adams, tlie army 
besieging Boston, and voted to raise ten companies of riflemen in 
Pennsylvania, Maryland & "Virginia. This was the origin of the 
far-famed continental army" (Frothingham, p. 214). Four major- 
generals were appointed, AYard, Lee, Schuyler and Putnam : and 
eight brigadier-generals, Pomeroy, JNIontgomery, "Wooster, Heath, 
Spencer, Thomas, Sullivan and Green : with Gates as adjutant-gen- 
eral. Washington was chosen comraauder-in-cliief, June loth, 1775, 
and assumed command in Cambridge, July 3rd. 

It will be thus seen that strictly speaking the troops who fought 
at Bunker Hill were part of the Continental Array. The Committee 
of Safety in their official account of the battle, dated July 25th, 1775, 
term our troops " the New England army," aud this form has been 
inscribed on our Tablets, as pointing out the correct, popular idea, 
that our troops acted on that day in behalf of their respective 
provinces, not being aware of the action taken three days before 
at Philadelphia. It will be noticed that our Articles of War were 



APPENDIX G. 273 

for the Massachusetts Army, and that Warren's rank was major- 
general in that army. 



I cannot close this account of our troops more appropriately than 
by the following quotation from a letter of Elbridge Gerry, dated 
Oct. 9, 1775, and cited by Frothingham (p. 265), as it shows the 
pre-eminent position which Massachusetts claims in the first armed 
resistance to British authority. 

" Let it be remembered that the first attack was made on this 
colony ; that we had to keep a regular force, without the support 
of regular government ; that we had to support in the field from 
12 to 14,000 men, when the whole forces voted by the other New 
England governments amounted to 8,500 only. That New Hamp- 
shire found it impracticable to support its own troops at so short 
a notice, and was for a considerable time supplied with provisions 
from this proviuce. That after we had ransacked the seaports, 
and obtained all that was not wanted for their support, and had 
stopped two cargoes of flour owned in Boston, it was found that 
all the pork and grain in the government would not more than 
supply the inhabitants and the army until the new crops came 
in ; and that there was no way left, unassisted as we were bj' 
the continent or any other colony, — for we never had a barrel 
of continental flour to supply the army, — but to write a circular 
letter to every town in the counties of 'Worcester, Hampshire and 
Berkshire, desiring them in the most pressing terms to send in pro- 
visions, and engaging that the inhabitants should be allowed the 
customary price in their respective towns, and the teamsters the 
usual rate for carting. But for this measure, the forces of this 
colony and New Hampshire must have been dispersed." 



Finally, let me recite here the glowing words of Alexander H. 
Everett, at the Celebration of June 17, 1836. 



274 



EEVOLUTIONARY ARMY REGULATIONS. 



'' Yes, fellow-citizens and friends ! when our neighboring metropolis 
and her sister cities shall have had their day of power, prosperity 
and glory, and passed away ; when Boston, New York and Phil- 
adelphia shall have been what Rome, Athens, Memphis and Baby- 
lon at their proudest period never were, and shall have sunk again, 
in conformity with the immutable law that regulates all human 
things, into the state of ruin in which those celebrated seats of 
empire are now ; when of all the achievements of art and wealth 
that now surround us, or maj' hereafter adorn this neighborhood, 
the hand of Time shall have swept away everything excepting 
that simple granite obelisk, which will probably outlast ail the 
structures it is destined to overlook ; even then, at that remote 
period, the friends of liberty and virtue will come up from the 
bosom of distant lands, peopled by nations as yet without a name, 
over intervening oceans and continents, — from the shores perhaps 
of Australasia, Felix Boothia, or wherever else the genius of civil- 
ization may have fixed his temporary abode, — to pay their vows 
on Bunker Hill." 














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